Reviewing and navigating among images on an image capture unit using a thumbnail position memory bar

A computer readable medium containing program instructions for reviewing and navigating among stored images on an image capture unit having a display, wherein each of the stored images is represented by a thumbnail image, the program instructions for:

• (a) displaying a page of thumbnail images on a display in which when the page is full of thumbnails, all the thumbnails are arranged in an N×M array;
• (b) displaying a memory bar adjacent to the page on the display, wherein the memory bar indicates a position of the displayed page in relation to the other pages of stored images;
• (c) allowing the user to navigate among the thumbnail images in the displayed page via the up, down, right and left buttons, where a highlight area indicates a location of a currently selected thumbnail;
• (d) allowing the user to navigate from the displayed page to other pages via up, down, right and left buttons, wherein the displayed page is replaced with a second page;
• and
• (e) updating the memory bar to indicate a position of the second page in relation to the other pages.

A image capture unit comprising:

• a memory for storing digital images, wherein each of the digital images is represented by a thumbnail;
• a four-way navigation control having left, right, up, and down buttons;
• a display;
• and
• a processor for controlling operation of the image capture unit by:
• displaying a page of thumbnail images on the display for review by a user, wherein when the page is full of thumbnails, all the thumbnails are arranged in an N×M array,
• displaying a memory bar adjacent to the page on the display, wherein the memory bar indicates a position of the displayed page in relation to the other pages of stored images,
• highlighting a location of a currently selected thumbnail on the displayed page in response to the user pressing the up, down, right and left buttons to navigate among the thumbnail images,
• on the memory bar, indicating the location of the currently selected thumbnail within the displayed page;
• in response to the user navigating from the displayed page to other pages via up, down, right and left buttons, replacing the displayed page with a second page, and
• updating the memory bar to indicate a position of the second page in relation to the other pages.

A method for reviewing and navigating among stored images on an image capture unit having a display, wherein each of the stored images is represented by a thumbnail image, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) displaying a page of a sequence of pages, wherein each of the pages is capable of displaying an array of N×M images;
• (b) allowing a user to navigate among images within the displayed page and to navigate between pages;
• (c) highlighting each image on the page as a user navigates among the images within the displayed page, wherein the highlighted image is a currently selected image;
• (d) displaying a memory bar adjacent to an edge of the display, wherein the memory bar functions to indicate a position of the displayed page in relation to other pages, and to indicate the position of the currently selected image within the displayed page by,
• (i) displaying a series of mini-pages representing the pages, where each mini-page includes an N×M array of elements representing image positions within the corresponding page,
• (ii) highlighting the mini-page in the memory bar corresponding to the displayed page as the user navigates from page to page, and
• (iii) highlighting the element within the mini-page corresponding to the currently selected image within the displayed page.