System and method for exchanging images
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsKentaro Toyama, David Vronay, Padmanabhan Anandan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for providing a peer-to-peer photo-sharing environment. The system includes: manual and automatic photo annotation at the client; periodic client-server synchronization; an index of client photos on a central server or a photo database that is resident on the central server, which is updated by the client-server synchronization function; end-user search functionality to search the centralized index or photo database; and transmission of the relevant photos to the client via an on-line image cache. In one embodiment, one client's new photos are automatically displayed on another client's computer (e.g., via screen saver or another mechanism).
Claims54
A computer-implemented process for sharing images comprising the process actions of:
- inputting images at a hosting client;
- annotating said images with metadata at said hosting client;
- creating a local index of said images and local database of said images at said hosting client;
- synchronizing said hosting client's local index with a master index of a central server, said master index comprising all images available for sharing;
- and
- providing images from said hosting client.
A computer-implemented process for sharing images comprising the process actions of:
- receiving at a central server a search query formatted using annotation data describing an image from a requesting client, said server hosting a master index of all images available for sharing;
- searching said master index at said central server using annotation data provided in said search query and obtaining a result;
- and
- sending said search result from said central server to said requesting client.
A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for transferring images, said computer executable instructions comprising:
- inputting images at a first client;
- annotating said images with metadata;
- creating a local index of said images and local database of said images at said first client;
- synchronizing said first client's local index with a master index of a central server, said master index comprising all images available for sharing.
- searching by a second client of said central server's master index for a particular image using said metadata;
- returning a search result from said central server to said second client;
- and
- coordinating the transfer of a desired image found in said search result from said first client to said second client.
A system for transferring files, the system comprising:
- a general purpose computing device;
- and
- a computer program comprising program modules executable by the computing device, wherein the computing device is directed by the program modules of the computer program to,
- input files at a first client;
- annotate said files at said first client;
- create a local index of said files and a local database of said files at said first client;
- synchronize said first client's local index with a master index of a central server, said master index comprising all files available for sharing;
- search by a remote client of said central server's master index for a particular file using said annotated data;
- return a search result from said central server to said remote client;
- and
- transfer a desired file found in said search result to said remote client.
A computer-implemented process for sharing images comprising the process actions of:
- inputting images at a hosting client;
- annotating said images with metadata at said hosting client;
- creating a local index of said images and local database of said images at said hosting client;
- providing images from said hosting client.
A computer-implemented process for sharing images comprising the process actions of:
- receiving at a image hosting client a search query of a local image index formatted using annotation data describing an image from a requesting client, said local image index containing a list of all images available for sharing by said hosting client;
- searching said local image index at said hosting client using annotation data provided in said search query and obtaining a result;
- and
- sending said search result from said hosting client to said requesting client.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.