KR101400619B1 - Photo management method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a photo management method and apparatus.

The method of managing photos according to the present invention comprises the steps of grouping photographs using metadata of photographs and displaying an event to be input; And selecting the displayed event or receiving an event to record the event in the photograph.

Photos, Events

Description

[0001] Photo management method and apparatus [

The present invention relates to a photo management method and apparatus.

In recent years, digital cameras have been widely used, and the capacity of the internal and external memories of mobile communication terminals and the like has been increased and the photographing function is basically included, so that it is possible to conveniently take a picture anytime and anywhere.

Accordingly, there is a need for effective management and searching of photographed photographs. However, conventionally, photographed photographs are stored in a batch without specific identification, or a folder is created to input information about a photograph as a folder name Save the photo.

However, as the number of pictures increases, it becomes inconvenient to check many folders and pictures in order to find or sort the pictures desired by the user.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a picture management method and apparatus for easily entering events for managing and searching for pictures by grouping pictures containing similar information and recommending events to be input to the pictures.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for grouping photographs using metadata of photographs and displaying an event to be input; And selecting the displayed event or receiving an event to record the event in the photograph.

According to the method and apparatus for managing photographs according to the present invention, it is possible to easily input an event by grouping photographs containing similar information and recommending an event to be input to the photograph. Also, There is an effect that can be retrieved.

In addition, the present invention can be applied to all devices capable of displaying pictures including a TV, a digital camera, a PMP, a mobile communication terminal, etc. to provide a user interface for easily inputting and searching for events in a picture .

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of managing a photo, comprising: grouping photographs using metadata of photographs and displaying an event to be input; And selecting the displayed event or receiving an event to record the event in the photograph.

In the present invention, the event to be input may further include extracting and displaying the content recorded in the predetermined information having the same information as the metadata of the grouped pictures.

In the present invention, a sub event associated with the input event may be further recorded on the photograph.

In the present invention, the method may further include searching for a photograph using the event recorded in the photograph.

Further, a photo managing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a storage unit for storing photographs; A display unit for displaying a user interface for inputting an event and searching for a photograph in a photograph; A UI engine for operating a user interface for grouping pictures stored in the storage unit, inputting an event to a photo by recommending an event, and searching for a picture using the input event; And a controller for controlling a user interface for photograph management and searching according to a command of the user.

In the present invention, the UI engine may include a metadata analyzer for extracting information of metadata input to a photograph and grouping the photographs; A schedule management unit for managing the schedule; And an event input and search unit for extracting an event to be input to the photo in the schedule information including information corresponding to the grouped information and searching for a photo using the event input in the photo .

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a picture management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a storage unit 11 for storing photographs; A display unit 12 for displaying a user interface for inputting an event and searching for a photograph in a photograph; A meta data analyzing unit 14 for extracting information of meta data input to a photograph, a schedule management unit 16 for managing a schedule, a recommendation and inputting event to be input to a photograph, A UI engine 13 including an event input and search unit 18 for inputting an event; And a control unit 19 for controlling the output of a user interface for photo management and search according to a user's command.

The storage unit 11 may be a storage medium such as a hard disk (HDD) built in a photo management apparatus or a storage medium such as CF, SM, XD, or SD as an external storage medium, .

The display unit 12 displays a user interface for inputting and searching for events in a photograph.

The UI engine 13 conveniently groups the pictures including similar information so as to conveniently input an event of a specific meaning to the pictures of the storage unit 11, Or a user interface that allows a user to search for a photograph using the input event.

Hereinafter, the operation of the UI engine 13 for providing a user interface for inputting an event to the photographs stored in the storage unit 11 will be described.

First, the metadata analyzer 14 analyzes the metadata of the pictures stored in the storage medium when the built-in storage medium is selected or an external storage medium is inserted.

The metadata is specific information to be recorded on a photograph, and each photograph has its own metadata. For example, the date and place of photographing are recorded as metadata.

The metadata analyzer 14 groups pictures including similar metadata using the analyzed metadata.

For example, Fig. 2 (a) shows the date information 21 of the photograph as a time axis, and the time axis indicated by each arrow indicates the time when the photograph was taken. Here, the photographs having the metadata of the same date are grouped into one group (22). In other words, the pictures taken on October 10, 2007 are grouped into one group.

2 (b) is an example of grouping (26) pictures of different date information 24 and 25 into one group. For example, the pictures stored on October 10th and October 11th, 2007 Is present and there is a picture stored on October 20th and October 21th when a certain interval occurs, the above October 10th and 11th day are grouped into one group, and October 20th and 21st are grouped into one group .

In such a case, it corresponds to the case of photographing by going on a trip or the like, and may be grouped by date according to the number of stored pictures adaptively as shown in FIG. 2 (a) And FIG. 2 (c) shows an example of grouping (29, 30) photographs according to the dates 27 and 28 at regular intervals.

Also, pictures can be grouped by time on the same date. For example, a photograph having time information of 13:00 to 16:00 is grouped into one group with respect to a photograph having the date information of October 10, 2007, and a group of pictures having the same date information Photographs having time information from 17:00 to 20:00 can be grouped into one group.

The schedule management unit 16 manages schedules provided by the user interface and manages events such as memos inputted on the selected date and the date.

For example, the user may select a date of October 10 and enter a memo entitled "Taking pictures of Gyeongbuk Palace".

In addition, notes can be entered in chronological order for each date in detail. For example, you can select October 10th and enter 'Gyeongbuk Palace photo shoot' from 13:10 to 15:30 and 'Insadong photo shoot' from 16:00 to 20:00.

The schedule management unit 16 manages date and time, inputted memo, and provides information that can be grouped in association with the metadata analysis unit 14.

For example, when the date information matching with the analyzed metadata for grouping pictures is present in the schedule management unit 16, the metadata analysis unit 14 displays a picture with the date and time managed by the schedule management unit 16 Can be grouped.

That is, if the schedule management unit 16 writes a note of 'school trip' on October 10th and 11th, the metadata analysis unit 14 groups the pictures including the date into one group and inputs them into a picture The recommendation for a school excursion as an event is described in detail below.

The event input and search unit 18 receives and records events for the grouped pictures.

For example, the event input and retrieval unit 18 displays the memo as an event and recommends the date when the date grouped by the metadata analysis unit 14 and the date on which the memo of the schedule management unit 16 is recorded.

In other words, the user inputs a memo of "photo shoot of Gyeongbuk Palace" on Oct. 10, and a schedule of "photo shoot of Insa-dong" on Oct. 20, and the schedule management unit 16 manages the date and memo.

At this time, when an external storage medium or the like is inserted, the metadata analysis unit 14 groups the pictures stored in the storage medium, and if the grouped date and the date on which the schedule is recorded are the same, (16) recommends the memo as an event of grouped pictures.

Referring to FIG. 2 (c), the photographs 29 recorded on October 10, 2007 and the photographs 30 recorded on October 20, 2007 are grouped, And the recommendation is made as an event of the grouped photos 29 on October 10, 2007, and "Insadong" (32) on October, 2007, It is recommended as an event of the pictures 30 grouped on the 20th. That is, words included in a memo or the like recorded on a schedule are extracted as an event to be input into a photograph.

 Here, sub-events associated with the event may be further recommended and input.

Also, the location information recorded in the metadata of the photographs can be recommended as an event, and the location information is recorded in the location where the photograph was photographed using GPS or the like, and it is already known to those skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs , So that a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In addition, the event input can be directly input by the user, and the user can directly select and group the pictures to which the event is to be input. In addition, not only grouped pictures but also individual events can be input for each picture, and input events can be modified.

On the other hand, when the user selects an event to be searched, the event input and search unit 18 searches for and displays the photos on which the event is recorded.

For example, an event input to a photograph is input to each photograph as metadata, and when a storage medium storing photographs in which events are recorded is selected or inserted, So that the search function can be performed.

The control unit 19 controls the user to display a user interface capable of inputting an event by grouping pictures according to a photo management command, and controls the display unit to display a user interface do.

Accordingly, the present invention can easily input an event by grouping photographs containing similar information and recommending an event to be input in the photograph, and is capable of conveniently searching for desired photographs using an event input in a photograph have.

In addition, the present invention can be applied to all devices capable of displaying pictures including a TV, a digital camera, a PMP, a mobile communication terminal, etc. to provide a user interface for easily inputting and searching for events in a picture .

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of managing a photo according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the metadata of the photograph is analyzed (S31). For example, if a storage medium built in the photo management apparatus is selected or an external storage medium is inserted, the metadata is analyzed with respect to the photographs stored in the storage medium.

Then, the grouping of the pictures is performed using the metadata, and an event to be input to the picture is recommended and displayed (S32).

For example, the meta data is specific information to be recorded in a photograph, and each photograph has its own meta data. For example, the date and place where the photo was taken are recorded as meta data, ) Groups the photographs containing the same metadata such as the date or place.

At this time, if a memo with a specific meaning is recorded in the grouped date as the schedule management information, the memo or the like is recommended as an event to be recorded in the photograph.

That is, the event input and retrieval unit 18 compares the metadata analyzed by the metadata analysis unit 14 with the schedule information managed by the schedule management unit 16, and records the date on which the metadata and the schedule management information are recorded If they are the same, the words included in the memo recorded in the schedule management are recommended as an event to be inputted into the photograph.

If there is no schedule information on the same date as the comparison result, the user can show all the memos recorded in the schedule management as recommendation events. If the place recorded in the metadata or the photograph in which the event is recorded is included The event can be displayed as a referral event.

4 is a structure of a header recorded in a photograph according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4, a photo identification field 41, a date field 42, a time field 43, a position field 44, in which a file name of a photo or a URL for a photo is recorded, A Person information field 45, an Event field 46, and a Rule field 47, as shown in FIG.

The photo identification field 41 records the photograph file name and URL and the date field 42 records the photographing date and the stored date. The time field 43 stores the time at which the photograph was photographed, the stored time And so on.

The position field 44 records the location where the photograph is stored, and the person information field 45 records human recognition information and the like.

The recognition information is information that recognizes a human face photographed on a photograph when a recognition unit (not shown) is attached to the photograph search apparatus. The metadata analysis unit 14 uses the recognition information of the person information field 45 To group photos.

The event field 45 records an event giving a specific meaning to the photograph, and if the event is already set and set on the specific date, the rule field 47 records a number indicating the event in the picture having the specific date do.

For example, if November 22 is designated as the anniversary, a photograph having the metadata of November 22 is recorded in the Rule field 47 as Rule # 1, which is a number 1, which means a wedding anniversary. Therefore, it is possible to record a specific event on the same day regardless of the year, and the data having the header information as described above can be stored as metadata in each photograph.

That is, the pictures may be grouped using the header information, or the recorded event may be used as a recommendation event if an event is already recorded.

In addition, the already recorded event can be modified, and the lower concept events associated with the upper concept event and the tree structure can be further input.

Thereafter, a recommended event is selected or an event is input as a character directly from the user and recorded in each of the grouped pictures (S33).

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a user interface for inputting an event for photo management according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.

Referring to FIG. 5, when a storage medium is selected or input, metadata is analyzed and grouped by date 51 and grouped pictures 52 are displayed.

At this time, a memo or the like included in the schedule management information is displayed as a recommendation event 53, and an item 54 to be input as an event to be further input and a sub event can be selected.

As described above, the present invention can easily input an event by grouping pictures containing similar information and recommending an event to be input to the picture, and can easily search desired pictures using the event input in the picture .

In addition, the present invention can be applied to all devices capable of displaying pictures including a TV, a digital camera, a PMP, a mobile communication terminal, etc. to provide a user interface for easily inputting and searching for events in a picture .

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. It will be possible. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims, and all differences within the scope of the claims are to be construed as being included in the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a picture management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig.

Figure 2 illustrates grouping of photographs according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a photo management method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a header recorded in a photograph according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a diagram illustrating a user interface for inputting an event for photo management according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (6)

Grouping photographs using metadata of the photographs; Extracting an event to be input in the contents recorded in the schedule information having the same information as the metadata of the grouped pictures; Displaying the event to be input; And And selecting the displayed event or receiving an event to record the event in the photo. The method according to claim 1, Further comprising the step of extracting and displaying the input event from the contents recorded in the schedule information having the same information as the metadata of the grouped pictures. The method according to claim 1, And further record a sub event associated with the input event on a photograph. The method according to claim 1, Further comprising the step of searching for a photograph using the event recorded in the photograph. A storage unit for storing photographs; A display unit for displaying a user interface for inputting an event and searching for a photograph in a photograph; A metadata analyzing unit for extracting information of metadata input to a photograph and grouping the photographs; a schedule management unit for managing a schedule; a schedule management unit for managing events to be input in a picture in schedule information including information matching the grouped information; A UI engine for inputting an event to a photograph and searching for a photograph using the input event; And a control unit for controlling a user interface for photograph management and searching according to a command of the user. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the UI engine A metadata analyzing unit for extracting information of the metadata input to the photographs and grouping the photographs; A schedule management unit for managing the schedule; And an event input and search unit for extracting an event to be input to the photo in the schedule information including the information corresponding to the grouped information and searching for the photo using the event input in the photo, Photo management device.

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