Image capturing apparatus, image capturing method, album creating apparatus, album creating method, album creating system and computer readable medium

An album creating method comprising:

• storing personal identification information indicative of a person included in an image in association with the image;
• storing related personal information associated with the personal identification information on persons closely related to each other;
• extracting the personal identification information on a person closely related to a designated person who is designated by a user based on the related personal identification information stored in the related personal information storing step;
• extracting a related personal image stored in the image storing step in association with the personal identification information extracted in the related personal information extracting step;
• extracting a designated personal image stored in the image storage section in association with personal identification information indicative of the designated person;
• and
• generating an album including the image extracted in the image extracting step,
• wherein the album generating step includes classifying the related personal image extructed by the related personal image extracting step and the designated personal image extracted by the designated personal image extracting step.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon a computer program comprising a set of instructions when executed by a computer to implement a method for an album creating apparatus for creating an album, the method operates the album creating apparatus to function as:

• an image storage section for storing personal identification information indicative of a person included in an image in association with the image;
• a related personal information storage section for storing related personal information associated with the personal identification information on the persons closely related to each other;
• a related personal information extraction section for extracting the personal identification information on a person closely related to a designated person who is designated by a user based on the related personal information stored in the related personal information storage section;
• an image selecting section for selecting the image stored in the image storage section in association with the personal identification information extracted by the related personal information extraction section;
• an album creating section for creating an album including the image selected by the image selecting section;
• and
• a designated personal image extraction section for extracting a designated personal image stored in the image storage section in association with personal identification information indicative of the designated person,
• wherein the album creating section includes an image classification section for classifying the related personal image selected by the image selecting section and the designated personal image extracted by the designated personal image extraction section.

An album creating system comprising:

• an image capturing section for capturing an image;
• a person determining section for determining whether the image captured by the image capturing section includes any person;
• an input notification section for notifying a user that the person included in the image captured by the image capturing section should be inputted when the person determining section determines that the image includes any person;
• a personal identification information input section for causing the user to input personal identification information indicative of the person included in the image captured by the image capturing section by a predetermined timing after the input notification section notifies the user that the person included in the image captured by the image capturing section should be inputted;
• an image storage section for storing the personal identification information inputted by the personal identification information input section in association with the image captured by the image capturing section when the personal identification information input section inputs the personal identification information;
• a related personal information storage section for storing related personal information associated with the personal identification information on the persons closely related to each other;
• a related personal information extraction section for extracting the personal identification information on a person closely related to a designated person who is designated by the user based on the related personal information stored in the related personal information storage section;
• an image selecting section for selecting the image stored in the image storage section in association with the personal identification information extracted by the related personal information extraction section;
• and
• an album generating section for generating an album including the image selected by the image selecting section,
• wherein the album creating section includes:
• a person determination section for determining whether one image selected by the image selecting section includes at least the person closely related to the designated person;
• and
• a trimming image generating section for generating a trimming image which includes at least the person closely related to the designated person and in which the person more closely related to the designated person are enhanced.

An album creating apparatus comprising:

• an image storage section for storing personal identification information indicative of a person included in an image in association with the image;
• a related personal information storage section for storing related personal information associated with the personal identification information on the persons closely related to each other;
• a related personal information extraction section for extracting the personal identification information on a person closely related to a designated person who is designated by a user based on the related personal information stored in the related personal information storage section;
• an image selecting section for selecting the image stored in the image storage section in association with the personal identification information extracted by the related personal information extraction section;
• and
• an album creating section for creating an album including the image selected by the image selecting section,
• wherein the album creating section includes:
• a person determination section for determining whether one image selected by the image selecting section includes at least the person closely related to the designated person;
• and
• a trimming image generating section for generating a trimming image which includes at least the person closely related to the designated person and in which the person more closely related to the designated person are enhanced.

An album creating method comprising:

• storing personal identification information indicative of a person included in an image in association with the image;
• storing related personal information associated with the personal identification information on persons closely related to each other;
• extracting the personal identification information on a person closely related to a designated person who is designated by a user based on the related personal identification information stored in the related personal information storing step;
• extracting the image stored in the image storing step in association with the personal identification information extracted in the related personal information extracting step;
• and
• generating an album including the image extracted in the image extracting step,
• wherein the album generating step includes:
• determining whether one image selected by the image selecting section includes at least the person closely related to the designated person;
• and
• generating a trimming image which includes at least the person closely related to the designated person and in which the person more closely related to the designated person are enhanced.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon a computer program comprising a set of instructions when executed by a computer to implement a method for an album creating apparatus for creating an album, the method operates the album creating apparatus to function as:

• an image storage section for storing personal identification information indicative of a person included in an image in association with the image;
• a related personal information storage section for storing related personal information associated with the personal identification information on the persons closely related to each other;
• a related personal information extraction section for extracting the personal identification information on a person closely related to a designated person who is designated by a user based on the related personal information stored in the related personal information storage section;
• an image selecting section for selecting the image stored in the image storage section in association with the personal identification information extracted by the related personal information extraction section;
• and
• an album creating section for creating an album including the image selected by the image selecting section,
• wherein the album creating section includes:
• a person determination section for determining whether one image selected by the image selecting section includes at least the person closely related to the designated person;
• and
• a trimming image generating section for generating a trimming image which includes at least the person closely related to the designated person and in which the person more closely related to the designated person are enhanced.

An album creating system comprising:

• an image capturing section for capturing an image;
• a person determining section for determining whether the image captured by the image capturing section includes any person;
• an input notification section for notifying a user that the person included in the image captured by the image capturing section should be inputted when the person determining section determines that the image includes any person;
• a personal identification information input section for causing the user to input personal identification information indicative of the person included in the image captured by the image capturing section by a predetermined timing after the input notification section notifies the user that the person included in the image captured by the image capturing section should be inputted;
• an image storage section for storing the personal identification information inputted by the personal identification information input section in association with the image captured by the image capturing section when the personal identification information input section inputs the personal identification information;
• a related personal information storage section for storing related personal information associated with the personal identification information on the persons closely related to each other;
• a related personal information extraction section for extracting the personal identification information on a person closely related to a designated person who is designated by the user based on the related personal information stored in the related personal information storage section;
• an image selecting section for selecting the image stored in the image storage section in association with the personal identification information extracted by the related personal information extraction section;
• and
• an album generating section for generating an album including the image selected by the image selecting section,
• wherein the album generating section includes:
• a person determination section for determining whether one image selected by the image selecting section includes at least the person closely related to the designated person;
• and
• a trimming image generating section for generating a trimming image which includes at least the person closely related to the designated person and in which the person more closely related to the designated person are enhanced.