Album creating apparatus, method and program that classify, store, and arrange images

An album creating method for creating an album in which a plurality of images are laid out, comprising:

• storing a plurality of classification methods for indexing images into one or more groups, each classification method identifying at least one index parameter for grouping images and being associated with one more album types;
• receiving the plurality of images from an image input section;
• determining an album type using statistical information associated with each of the plurality of received images;
• selecting, after determining the album type, one or more of the plurality of stored classification methods based on the determined album type, and classifying each of the plurality of received images into one or more groups using the one or more selected classification methods;
• laying out the image classified into the group associated with an image layout frame in the image layout frame with which the group into which the image is classified by the image classifying step is associated, which is arranged in the template stored in a template storage section.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing an album creating program for an album creating apparatus for creating an album in which a plurality of images are laid out, the program operates the album creating apparatus to function as:

• a classification method storage section for storing a plurality of classification methods for indexing images into one or more groups, each classification method identifying at least one index parameter for grouping images and being associated with one or more album types;
• an image input section for receiving the plurality of images;
• a kind of album determining section for determining an album type using statistical information associated with each of the plurality of received images;
• an image classification section for, after the kind of album determining section determines the album type, selecting one or more of the plurality of stored classification methods based on the determined album type, and classifying each of the plurality of received images into one or more groups using the one or more selected classification methods;
• a template storage section for storing a template in which image layout frames with which the groups into which the images are classified by the image classification section are classified are arranged;
• and
• an album creating section for laying out in an image layout frame arranged in the template stored in the template storage section the image classified into the group associated with the image layout frame to create an album.