ES2368347T3 - DEVICE FOR STORAGE OF DIGITAL MEDIA SENSITIVE TO CONTENT AND METHODS OF USE. - Google Patents

Abstract

One method, including: authorizing a transfer of data representing a digital image captured by a host digital camera to a memory storage array of a removable media card (38) housed within the digital camera by logical to physical mapping, microprogram controlled, addresses of the memory storage array in which the data is to be written, the microprograms being stored on the removable media card; transfer, under the control of a loading agent resident in the removable media card and in response to a user order, the data representing the digital image of the memory storage array of the removable media card to a server layer managed (40), said transfer being carried out by means of a wireless radio transceiver included in the removable media card and a wireless network access point (42) with which the wireless radio transceiver of the removable media card is associated, and said transfer after the managed server layer authenticates a user associated with the removable media card; and transfer the data representing the digital image from the managed server layer to an electronic photo album, where the transfer is made by the managed server layer after the managed server layer has manipulated the data representing the digital image so that they can be received by the electronic photo album, thereby isolating the removable media card from the electronic photo album, where the method includes, before transferring the digital image to the electronic photo album, associating metadata with said digital image, including said Metadata some information regarding: host digital camera parameters when the digital image was taken; a position in which the digital image was taken; an identity, or comments, of a user of the host digital camera; an identity of others near the position in which the digital image was taken; o time and / or date information; where the time and / or position metadata are derived from some of the global positioning system data, information related to wireless networks that is determined to be near the removable media card when the digital image was taken, information related to Wireless networks detected by the removable media card, or combinations of any of the above.

Description

Content-sensitive digital media storage device and methods of using it

Related Requests

This application claims the priority benefit from United States Utility Application 11 / 468,251 filed on August 29, 2006 and Provisional Patent Application 60 / 718,155, filed on September 15, 2005.

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to storage media for digital media devices such as cameras, audio / video recorders / players, and the like, and, more specifically, to such storage media incorporating peripheral devices for transferring digital media stored in they by means of wireless communication links or otherwise processing said means.

Background

Devices such as fixed digital cameras ("DSCs") rely on removable nonvolatile media cards to store image data and other data (eg, metadata related to image data). Other digital media devices such as audio / video recorders / players (for example, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, MP3 players, digital camcorders, etc.) also use such media cards to store various digital media (e.g. images , movies, audio, etc). There are several media card formats, including Secure Digital (SD), Multi Media Card (MMC), Compact Flash (CF) I and II, Memory Stick (MS), and xD Picture Card (xD). In the sense that it is used here, the term media card is intended to refer to all such digital media storage devices, regardless of physical format.

In general, extracting images or other data from these media cards requires a connection tied to a personal computer (or similar device) or printer. For example, images can be downloaded directly to paper copy using printers that support physical interfaces compatible with the media card. Alternatively, the images can be uploaded to personal computers via card readers or wired connections between the cameras that host the media cards and the computers. They comply with IEEE 802.11 a / b / g standards) to transfer image data from the media card to a personal computer or printer. However, such cameras are generally more expensive than DSCs with wireless network capability and, given the currently installed base of DSCs with wireless networking capability, they represent only a very small portion of the general number of DSCs available today.

U.S. Patent 6,405,278 to Liepe describes a flash memory card configured with flash memory (for example, for storing digital images) and an RF transmitter that allows the transfer of data stored within the flash memory by direct wireless communication with an extended storage device that has a compatible receiver. However, Liepe does not explain the metadata issues associated with the data so stored or transferred, nor does the reference describe any intelligence resident within the flash card that allows for the manipulation of storage media that is visible to its host. In addition, communication between the memory card and the extended storage device is limited to direct communication without anticipating the use of wireless and analog LANs.

Davis and collaborators have written about “the social life of images taken with camera phones” based on a study of experiences of multiple users with specially configured mobile phones that have integrated digital cameras. See, for example, Davis et al., "MMM2: Mobile Media Metadata for Media Sharing", CHI2005, April 2-7, 2005, Portland, OR. According to the authors, a significant source of frustration for users of digital cameras (both camera phones and other) is to take photos of the host device and pass them to a platform where they can be shared with others. The MMM2 application allows users of these special camera phones to add legends to the images and video captured by the host camera and share the images and videos with other MMM2 users via existing networks used by mobile phones. The images stored in the MMM2 database can be organized later in albums, etc.

An important limitation of the MMM2 system is that it requires software updates on the host device. Specifically, before camera phones could be delivered to users for participation in the study described above, they had to be configured with client-side software configured to automatically collect contextual metadata before uploading images to the MMM2 database. . Additional client-side improvements were necessary in the XHTML browser of existing camera phones to allow user interaction with images in order to facilitate annotation and share.

Although such improvements to the microprograms and / or application software of a host device may be possible or even practical in a controlled and relatively small environment (such as the one used for the study described above), they are not practical (nor, in some cases , possible) in larger areas, such as the existing one installed based on legacy DSCs that have no wireless network capability. Therefore, what is needed is a different solution to solve the problem of extracting the photos (or, more generally, other digital media) from the host device, especially where such host does not allow easy modification of its microprograms or software. application.

US 2003/0128272 describes a wireless digital media card for use in a digital camera. The wireless digital media card is configured to replace a conventional digital media card and includes an interface with the digital camera, a transceiver configured to transmit image data via a wireless communication and logic link configured to receive image data from the camera digital through the interface and provide the image data to the transceiver for transmission.

Summary of the Invention

According to one aspect of the invention, a method according to claim 1 is provided.

In one embodiment, the present invention provides a content-sensitive digital media storage device that has a host device interface for exchanging digital information with a host device, a memory array for storing digital information received from the host device through the host interface. , a peripheral module configured to communicate the digital information stored in the memory matrix to a remote receiver of the digital media storage device, and a controller coupled with communication to the host device interface, the memory matrix and the peripheral module and configured to interpret directory information associated with the digital information stored in the memory array in order to selectively access said digital information and communicate said digital information accessed to the peripheral module for transmission to the remote receiver. The controller is preferably configured to interpret the directory information under the control of computer-readable instructions, which may be stored in the memory array or other memory associated with the storage device. In addition, the controller may be configured to recognize the type and nature of the digital information stored in the memory matrix. The peripheral module may be a wireless transceiver and the digital media storage device preferably has a form factor compatible with at least one of the family of secure digital media cards, multimedia cards, compact flash media cards (CF, sticks of memory, or xD image cards.

In another embodiment, the present invention allows a digital image stored in the memory storage array to be transmitted from a removable media card to a host (for example, accessible via a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN) ), or network of networks such as the Internet) via a wireless radio transceiver included in the media card. Such transmission is done, in part, through an appropriate wireless network infrastructure device (such as wireless network access point associated with a network conforming to IEEE 802.11 standards) with which the wireless radio transceiver of the card Removable media is associated. The digital image is transferred from the host to an electronic photo album, for example, which can be maintained by a third-party photography service provider.

Before transferring the host's digital image to the electronic photo album, the digital image may be associated with metadata relative to a position in which the digital camera took the digital image. Metadata can belong to the identity of the camera user, the identity of other users in the immediate environment, a time stamp referenced to time zone, or information relative to a position in which the digital camera took the digital image. Such position and time zone metadata may be derived from global positioning system (GPS) data; of information relating to wireless networks that are determined to be near the media card when the image was taken by the digital camera; of information relating to wireless networks detected by the media card; or combinations of some of the above. In addition, the digital image can be processed in a manner that is compatible with the image format requirements for storage in the electronic photo album.

Another embodiment of the present invention makes it possible to automatically associate a wireless radio transceiver of a removable media card having a memory matrix that stores digital images taken by a digital camera, with an access point of a wireless network. Such association is made according to configuration information stored in the memory matrix of the media card. One or more digital images are then transferred from the media card to a computer system, at least in part through the wireless network.

The computer system to which the images are transferred can be a server configured to receive the digital images for transfer to an electronic photo album, for example an album hosted on a computer resource other than the server. However, before transferring the digital images, the images may be associated with metadata in relation to approximate geographical positions in which the images were taken, the time zone in which the images were taken, and other wireless users in the immediate environment at that moment.

Another embodiment of the present invention allows one or more images recovered from a memory matrix of a removable media card to be presented to a user according to the status of a transfer of at least one other image of the memory matrix of the media card to a computer system via a wireless network with which a wireless radio transceiver of the removable media card is coupled with communication. The one or more images can be displayed by a digital camera display device within which the removable media card is housed. In some cases the one or more images may be part of a movie. However, independently, the images preferably include status information regarding the transfer of the at least one other unique image.

Another embodiment of the present invention allows information to be exchanged between two removable media cards via an ad hoc wireless network established between respective wireless radio transceivers of the media cards. The information may be indicative of the proximity of the two media cards to each other and subsequently can be loaded from the respective media cards to a computer resource.

Once loaded, the information on the media cards can be correlated together with profile information related to users of the two media cards to determine whether users should be notified of the information exchange. For example, users can be notified if profile information regarding users indicates that they have a relationship with each other. Such relationship can be indicated through social network contacts between users. In the event that users have to be notified of the exchange of information, the notice can be made in the form of a suggestion to share digital images with each other.

It should be noted that some embodiments of the present invention do not require the use of media cards with wireless network capability. Instead, cameras with wireless network capability that have conventional media cards can be used. For example, the server layer functions that involve the association of metadata and image data described herein can be performed regardless of whether the media card, the camera (or both) have wireless network capability. Unlike the MMM2 system described above, the server layer operations of the present invention avoid the need to install specialized microprograms on the image capture device.

Brief description of the drawings

The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a block diagram of a removable media card having a wireless network port according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 illustrates another example of a removable media card having a wireless network port according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 illustrates an example of a wireless network configured for use with a removable media card having a wireless network port according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 4A and 4B illustrate examples of a user interface for use with image loads of a removable media card having a wireless network port according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 illustrates steps to establish and operate an authentication mechanism of a media card configured according to embodiments of the present invention.

Description

Content storage devices for digital media are described here. Such devices may be configured to be compatible with existing specifications for media card formats. That is, the devices of the present invention may be configured with physical dimensions compatible with such specifications. In this way, the content-sensitive digital media storage devices of the present invention can replace or replace conventional media cards in legacy devices such as DSCs and other digital media devices.

In the context of the present invention, the term "content" is understood to mean that it implies both the type and the file system structure employed by the host device and, at a higher layer, the type and nature of the files used by him. Therefore, the term "content sensitive" is understood to reflect the fact that the digital media storage devices of the present invention are intelligently configured capable of recognizing these types and structures of the file system and the type and nature of those files. In various embodiments of the invention such intelligence can be implemented as computer readable instructions to be executed by a general purpose (or special) processing device capable of reading said instructions and acting according to them (i.e. microprograms or, more generally, software) or dedicated hardware configured to perform the functions described here (or a combination of hardware and software).

In addition to the intelligence described above, the digital media storage devices of the present invention may be configured with various peripherals (for example, in addition to the memory matrix and memory controller portions of the device). For example, uni radiofrequency circuitry can be included

or bidirectional on the device to allow RF communications between the digital media storage device and a compatible transmitter / receiver / transceiver. In one embodiment, this RF circuitry includes wireless two-way radio configured for communications according to IEEE 802.11 a / b / g standards or other wireless communication protocols, in ad hoc and / or infrastructure modes. Alternatively, or in addition, the RF circuitry may include a receiver of the global positioning system (GPS) to receive information from GPS or similar satellites or pseudolites or other platforms that transmit similar information. Other types of peripherals can also be included.

Other embodiments of the digital media storage device of the present invention (with or without the peripherals described above) may include software / microprograms / hardware for digital media processing. For example, means for image processing, digital rights management or other activities or functions may be included. Therefore, the digital media storage device may be configured to substantially manipulate the digital media data stored therein before transferring the modified data (and, in some cases, the originals) from the storage device (e.g., via RF communication).

The digital media storage devices configured according to embodiments of the present invention include, in addition to a flash memory array, a controller that communicates with a microprocessor communication

or similar device (for example, a digital signal processor, reduced instruction set processor, etc.) configured to execute computer readable instructions with physical layer interface logic in front of flash memory array and in front of host. In this context, the “host” referred to is the device (for example, the camera, audio player or other host device) that will use the digital media storage device as a digital data repository (for example, images , audio files, and the like). The microprocessor executes the computer-readable instructions (which may be stored in the flash memory array, a separate memory device coupled with communication to the microprocessor, or both), which authorizes all access of the physical layer interface to the host of the storage device (that is, the interface with the DSC or other digital device) to the flash memory array.

Unlike a conventional flash controller, the microprocessor of the present invention and associated microprograms make the digital media storage devices configured according to the present invention capable of interpreting and processing the data stored in the flash matrix. The microprograms of the present invention use the structure of the file system written in the flash matrix to "mount" the device (before a computer can use any type of storage media the operating system must make said media accessible through from the computer's file system, a process known as assembly), obtain an inventory of stored files, read the contents of the files, and (if desired) make modifications to the file system. Such modifications include, but are not limited to, removing and renaming files, updating file attributes, and creating new files. This is in clear contrast to conventional flash array controllers, which simply stagger the information written in the storage array in the form of fixed-size blocks of opaque data and perform the appropriate actions to write the blocks in the array.

In one embodiment, the digital media storage device of the present invention prevents the external host from directly directing the flash array. Instead, all accesses by the host device are authorized and translated by the microprograms before resolution to a specific block of data in the flash array. The digital media storage device can be prepared for such activities by first formatting the device (for example, in a conventional manner), if necessary, and then initializing an internal mapping table to directly map all the blocks that have been written during the formatting operation and unmapping all other blocks in the array. As a result, after finishing the operation, only the data blocks that contain file system metadata, such as the File Assignment Table (FAT), the Root Directory Structure and the Partition Boot Record, have a translation valid from logical block addresses presented on the host interface to physical addresses within the digital media storage device. All other blocks are considered unused and unassigned and are not directly accessible by the host device.

From this initialized state, the digital media storage device maintains persistent databases of free physical blocks within the flash matrix and logical to physical mappings for the assigned blocks. In one embodiment, block accesses from external hosts can be intercepted as follows:

1) If the external host requests a block reading and there is a logical to physical mapping for that blocking address, the corresponding data block is read from the flash array and returned to the host.

2) If the external host requests a block reading, but there is no logical to physical mapping for said blocking address, the digital media storage device manufactures a block data reading response of all zeros (or other response) and return the data to the external host. The flash array is not accessed, nor is any new storage or mapping assigned.

3) If the external host requests a block reading and there is a logical to physical mapping for that blocking address, the data provided by the host is written to the flash array at the corresponding physical address.

4) If the external host requests a block reading, but there is no logical to physical mapping for said blocking address, a physical block not currently block mapping is taken from the internal persistent database of the digital media storage device. free physicals and a new mapping of the block address provided by the host to the physical address of the assigned block is created. The data provided by the host is then written to the flash array at that physical address. If no free physical blocks are available, a device access error is returned to the block level.

This dynamically assigned logical to physical block address mapping scheme allows the digital media storage device of the present invention to reorganize the data in its flash memory array without external side effects visible to the host. In addition, enhanced by the understanding of microprograms of the semantics of the top-level FAT file system, it allows the storage device of the present invention to manipulate the contents of files or folders stored in the flash array, without explicit cooperation or synchronization of the software of the external host device Stated differently, the advantages provided by the present invention (for example, the ability to manipulate data stored in the flash array) do not require any change in the existing microprograms of the physical host or software at the application level. Therefore, the drawbacks of the MMM2 scheme described above are avoided.

Figure 1 illustrates an example of a digital media storage device in the format of a media card 10 configured according to an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated, the media card 10 includes an interface 12 for communication with a host (for example, a DSC or other digital device). The physical and electrical formation of the interface 12 will depend on the type of media card used (for example, CF-I, CF-II, SD, etc.), but such interfaces are known in the industry and do not have to be described in detail . Indicated differently, such an interface is of a totally conventional nature and conforms to the relevant industry specifications, depending on the type of media card used.

The host interface 12 is coupled to a bus 14 that is used to communicate electrical signals within the media card 10. In some cases the bus 14 may be a dedicated bus between interface 12 and a central processing unit (CPU) 16 , while in other cases it may be a more general bus also used for communications between the CPU and other components. As with interface 12, CPU 16 (which is coupled with communication to bus 14) is a conventional feature of such media cards. In some embodiments, a read / write memory (such as an SRAM) 18 can be used. This provides a convenient storage position for CPU 16 when performing calculations and the like. The SRAM 18 may be coupled with communication to bus 14 (as shown) or it may be coupled with communication directly to CPU 16 through a private interface (eg, a separate memory bus).

There is also a memory controller 20 and associated memory matrix 22, and the controller 20 is coupled with communication to bus 14 and matrix 22. The illustration shows a flash memory array and a flash memory controller; however, other storage media and associated drivers can be used. For example, a relatively new form of storage device incorporates a hard mini-disk and an associated controller within a physical format compatible with conventional CF-II media cards. Such storage devices can be used in connection with the present invention, which is agnostic to the storage format.

Also included in the media card 10 is a wireless radio transceiver 24, which may be coupled with communication to the bus 14 in order to communicate with the CPU 16. The wireless radio 24 is an example of the peripherals explained above and in this embodiment It is preferably conforming to IEEE specifications

802.11 a / b / g, but in other embodiments other forms of wireless radios or even other peripherals may be used. For example, wireless radios conforming to BluetoothTM and / or GPS specifications can be used. Alternatively, or in addition, wireless radios conforming to IEEE 802.16 standards can be used. The exact nature of the peripheral port is not critical to the present invention, although a peripheral device that performs wireless communications for the media card 10 is required in several of the applications described below.

The important thing is that the physical dimensions of the media card 10 are compatible with the existing media card interfaces of several hosts, such as DSCs and the like. In the past, media cards with wireless network functionality have been larger than their counterparts with wireless capability. DSCs (and other digital devices) generally (or often) enclose their media cards in the body of the host device. As a result, the larger wired capacity media cards were incompatible with many existing host devices. However, the media card 10 of the present invention is sized to fit inside the legacy host media card housings.

Other incompatibility problems that have prevented the use of media cards with wireless functionalities with multiple hosts are even more difficult to overcome. For example, prior art media cards that have incorporated flash memory with wireless network capabilities have required the host device to support them with appropriate software drivers, making them incompatible with existing and legacy hosts. That is, existing hosts do not simply contain the microprograms needed to operate with previously available media cards that have these functionalities. In contrast, the media cards of the present invention are "auto-host", which means that they do not require such microprogram support of the host device. Instead, the media cards of the present invention act as a host device with an on-board network interface, but present in the camera or other digital device with which the card is used as a conventional block storage device. This means that the microprograms used by existing and legacy host devices do not have to be altered in order to read and write images, audio files or other digital content, and metadata, to / from the media cards of the present invention.

In addition, a portion of the memory array 22 may be reserved for storing the upload status information for images transferred from the media card. For example, in the case of a wireless radio media card that is used in connection with loading digital images, maintaining information regarding the status of any such charges over the wireless network may be important so that in cases where such transfers they are interrupted, they can be resumed from an appropriate starting point once communications with the wireless network have been restored. In addition, maintaining such status information will also provide the media card with the ability to determine when the original images can be safely removed from the memory array of the media card.

Figure 2 illustrates a media card 26 configured in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention. On this media card 26, a flash memory controller 28 includes a host interface 30, for example an SD or CF1 / CF-11 interface. The controller 28 also includes a flash matrix interface 32 that is connected with communication with the flash memory array 34. In this example a NAND flash memory array is used; however, in other embodiments an NOR flash memory array can be used.

The media card 26 also includes a wireless radio 36, which is coupled with communication to the flash controller 28 and the memory array 34. The wireless radio device 36 can be a stand-alone communications device conforming to 802.11 a / b / g that It includes a media access controller, a RISC processor (with concomitant read / write memory and flash memory to store intermediate results and computer-readable instructions, respectively) and the wireless radio front end. The flash controller may be a controller such as that obtainable from Hyperstone AG of Constance, Germany, the memory array 34 may be a NAND flash matrix such as that obtainable from Samsung, Inc., of Seoul, Korea, and The wireless radio device may be a module such as that obtainable from Atheros Communications Inc., of Santa Clara, CA. As indicated above, all these modules are integrated into a single form of SD card or CF-I / CF-11 compatible with existing host devices.

The wireless nature of the secondary interface (the interface with the host device is considered the primary interface for the media card) allows digital content (for example, images) to be transferred to or from the media card while it is still inside the media card. host media card slot. Working from within the media slot allows the media card to take power from the host device, eliminating the need for an integral battery. It is also possible to operate the media card and its wireless interface outside the host, provided that power is supplied through the host interface (12, 30), or alternatively, in an embodiment that integrates a battery into the media card. As indicated above, to enable wireless transfer functionality, the media card of the present invention adds wireless radio (eg, IEEE 802.11 a / b / g radio or Bluetooth radio, etc.), a media access controller ( MAC), and a host CPU embedded to the conventional flash controller functionality. Software components to interpret the host file system and data stored in the memory array, connect to local and / or other area networks (for example, using TCP / IP protocols) and manage low-level hardware driver tasks Wireless interface are included for use by the embedded host CPU.

As explained, the media cards configured according to the present invention can be used in connection with a variety of devices, such as DSCs, digital camcorders, mobile phones, personal computers, personal digital assistants, and similar devices. Much of the following explanation will focus on the use of such media cards with DSCs and further details of the microprogram operation are presented below for the specific example of a DSC that writes image data to a digital media storage device. configured according to the present invention. However, it should be remembered that this is done only in order to provide an example of the present invention. The general scope of the invention is reflected in the claims that follow this description and should not be unnecessarily limited in view of the DSC examples presented herein.

The media cards that integrate a storage device with a wireless communication system according to the present invention can be compliant with any existing media card format (eg, SD, MMC, CF, MS, or xD) so that it is compatible with a wide variety of DSCs and other hosts. In the case of a host camera, having an integrated wireless communications device allows users to upload images (or other data) from the camera (that is, the media card) to an alternative device (for example, a personal computer, a server or storage location associated with a local area network, or an Internet-based storage / computer resource, etc. at the time of capturing the image (if wireless communications are available) or at a later time, without having to connect the camera or media card to a physical interface (for example, such as a universal serial bus (USB) cable or other interface). In the case where images are uploaded to an Internet-based storage / computer resource, the images can be managed through any conventional web browser, or using a personal computer, combination of television and converter-decoder, mobile phone, or device of similar communications.

Having thus described several media cards configured according to the present invention, we now turn to an explanation of several applications for such media cards configured with one or more wireless network ports. However, in doing so, it should be recognized that these applications do not necessarily require the use of media cards as described above. That is, in some cases the media card functionality may be integrated within the host device itself instead of being resident on a removable media card. Although such solutions are not appropriate for legacy devices (at least not without substantial reconversion of such devices), they are appropriate for future host devices that do not have to be designed including removable media cards. Thus, although the following explanation involves the use of a media card configured in the manner explained herein, the present invention is also applicable to host devices that include such features and functionality in the absence of said media card.

Additional embodiments of the present invention provide the ability to "tag" images with position information, time and / or date information, or other metadata, providing alternative means of image management. In some cases, wireless communications devices integrated with media cards allow such cards to exchange cookies or other information elements with similarly configured media cards that are close to each other (for example, in an ad hoc network form) . This information can be used (in some cases in combination with social network information) to facilitate the sharing of images between users.

Using the media cards of the present invention may involve registering it with a service provider, for example through a hosted Internet website or other computer-based resource. Such registration may allow configuring the media card with network connection preferences and the like and may also set initial preferences for loading images to one or more designated storage locations. For example, a user can specify a preference to upload images to an existing electronic photo album maintained by the user. As indicated above, there are already several services to host such albums. You can also store network parameters, such as network names or service identifiers (SSIDs), encrypted and similar keys, in the private partition of the media card in order to facilitate communication with a preferred network (for example, a user's home network). In other cases, passwords associated with third-party wireless network accounts maintained by the user can thus be stored in order to facilitate communication between the media card and the so-called "hot spots" of wireless network (ie access points to wireless public access network maintained by third parties). Setting up the media card in this way may require the user to connect the media card with a personal computer for the initial registration process.

Once the media card has been configured for use with one or more wireless networks, it can be inserted into the host (here we assume a DSC for convenience). When taking pictures, decisions can be made to save / delete in the camera, in a conventional way. The media card will inform (via the host camera screen) the availability of the network (for example, by presenting an appropriate predefined image stored on the media card via the camera's image viewing screen). This allows the user to decide whether or not to connect to an available network and upload images to the previously configured destination storage location. The charging status can be displayed on the camera screen (for example, using one or more predefined images again). The user can then visit the storage location (for example, by accessing his electronic photo album), and print or otherwise interact with his images.

Including wireless network functionality on a media card, host compatibility is ensured. That is, from the point of view of an existing DSC (or other device), the media cards of the present invention resemble conventional storage devices with a compatible interface. Wireless network functionality does not have to be exposed to processors or other host components. This allows the media cards of the present invention to be functional with the existing installed base of devices with wireless host capability while at the same time expanding the functionality of the devices allowing wireless connectivity. Consumers are free to buy the camera (or other host device) they choose and add wireless functionality by selecting a media card. Consumers can also choose a photo portal (or other digital media storage center) that meets their needs, instead of having such a portal associated with their camera.

As explained below, a server layer isolates the media card of the present invention from the various photo portal interfaces. That is, instead of directly connecting to a third-party photo portal or other storage positions (as described in the scenarios proposed by Liepe), the media cards of the present invention will upload images through a known host ( and here the term 'host' refers to a computer-based device and not the "host device," such as a DSC, on which the media card is placed), for example a host on a LAN or accessible via a WAN and / or Internet. In turn, this host will store the images in the photo portal chosen by the user (for example, after performing any necessary resizing of the image or transcoding or other digital content processing). The user can store their preferences with the host (for example, as preferences for a user account), among which may be the designation of a destination photo portal or other storage location.

Using this intermediate host allows you to provide additional functionality. For example, automated enhancement features (such as red-eye reduction in images) can be provided. In addition, the use of such a host can allow secure transfers over open wireless networks, such as those common in third-party Internet cafes and the like. In some embodiments of the present invention, geotagging and / or time stamp correction as well as image file capabilities (for example, to alternative storage media such as CDs or DVDs) can be provided through the host. Finally, the host acts as a platform to distribute microprograms and updates of “hot spots” (or other roaming) lists to the media card.

Thus, among the capabilities provided by the media cards configured according to the present invention is the loading of images to third-party portals and image finishing service providers without the need to connect the host camera or the media card to a personal computer. Current digital photography workflows typically require users to perform multiple steps to distribute images to portals (for example, as can be seen on a LAN or accessible via a WAN and / or Internet). Typically, users must first transfer the images from their cameras to their personal computers, and then run client software based on a web or custom browser provided by the portal service provider (eg SnapfishTM, ShutterflyTM or Ofoto ”to upload the images on the portal Users can then manage their electronic photo albums and order products based on their images, from simple printed copies to photo books, devices or accessories printed with their photographs, archives, etc.

The present invention eliminates the need for users to stagger image uploads through their personal computers by transferring images from the media card to a managed server layer, and from it to one or more photographic service providers. Referring now to Figure 3, when the user initiates a load from a media card 38 configured according to the present invention, the charging agent resident in the media card contacts the managed server 40, authenticates the user, and then loads the images on the server using a specified transfer protocol. The connection to the server 40 can be made through a wireless network access point 42 associated with the user's home network (or other), or through a public access point 44 operated by a third-party service provider. Such an access point is generally part of a computer network (not shown) that provides access to the Internet or another network (for example, a LAN) through which it can connect to server 40. Such networks are of a conventional nature. and therefore they are not represented in this diagram.

Once the images have been received on the server 40, the software resident on the server accesses the user's account to determine where to store the images. Such storage may be corresponding on the server 40 (or an associated storage device or network) or it may be associated with an online service provider 46 that the user has designated to receive the images. Each of these service providers has its own specifications for loading images, so that if any resizing, transcoding or other manipulation of the image is needed, the server 40 can perform such tasks before uploading the images to the website of the provider of third parties (again, such transfer can be done via the Internet or another computer network, which is not represented here in order to keep the nature of this drawing simple). Where specified by a user, a variety of photofinishing and photo sharing preferences can be implemented, and images can be transferred to more than one provider to third parties. For example, server 40 may upload the images in an online image storage position associated with a third-party service provider and to the user's own website and / or web record (blog), hosted by a different service provider . In some cases, the third-party service provider may be a social media provider such as LinkedlnTM or FriendsterTM.

In order to facilitate the processes described above, the present invention provides a connection of a media card to a user. In the example of such a union, it uses a unique identifier for the media card, for example a serial number or media access controller (MAC) address, preferably associated with the card at the time of its manufacture. The assignment and use of such MAC addresses are well known in the art of computer networks and therefore will not be described further here. This unique identifier can be used as an index for a particular user account in the server layer, not having to store user identification information on the media card. Alternatively, the user identification information may be stored on the media card for use in connection with operations for which access to the server is not required (for example, interaction with a photo kiosk).

The presence of the server layer in the process described above frees the media card from the burden of directly connecting with a multitude of dynamic changing service providers and managing the customized transfer protocols of each provider within the limited hardware environment. media card software. The server layer can offer a variety of functionality, which in most cases is complementary to those offered by third-party portal services. For example, server 40 may be configured to perform any or all of the following actions:

1) Handle interrupted or duplicated transmissions elegantly. That is, in case of interruption of transmissions from the media card to the server, so as not to send a partially corrupted or incomplete image file to the destination portal, the server 40 may be configured to request retransmissions of such images to the successful reconnection to The media card. Likewise, the media card may be configured to record information regarding which images have already been loaded successfully in order not to send duplicates thereof. Where such functionality is not implemented, the server 40 may be configured to compare the images received again with those previously received and remove duplicates so that multiple copies of the images are not stored on third-party sites. This can help reduce costs associated with such storage and / or free the user from having to perform such deletions at a later time. In any case, duplicate images can be detected in several ways, from comparing metadata associated with the images (eg, time stamps or file numbers) with real image comparisons.

2) Provide feedback to the card and possibly the user about the successful completion of the transfer. Server 40 may be configured to wait until all images have been successfully uploaded to it before initiating transmissions to third-party service provider locations. In this way, users can be assured of not deleting images from media card 38 before they have been successfully transferred to off-camera storage. In other cases, the images can be deleted from the media card as soon as they have been successfully transferred to the server 40 (for example, upon receiving an indication from the server 40 of the upload success). Deletion can be done automatically by the card or manually by the user.

3) Resize and transcode images to meet the requirements of the portal. As indicated above, such actions may be necessary to meet the requirements of uploading images to third-party sites.

4) Act as an email gateway, MMS (mobile), and / or RSS (web syndication). Here, server 40 provides services that improve the user's ability to distribute their electronic images. The server 40 may be configured to distribute the images as email attachments to predesignated email addresses (for example, such as the user's personal email address or other email addresses) and / or specified email addresses by the user after the images have been uploaded to the server 40. In addition to email management, the images can be communicated by MMS, which is a service used by some mobile phones, RSS, which is an emerging syndication service based on extensible markup language (XML), or other media.

5) Secure transfers through an open wireless network. Many wireless networks, especially those for public access, operate without any form of encryption. Users may feel less secure about transferring their images through such networks and therefore the server 40 may be configured to establish a secure session with the media card 38 for the transfer of any images. In such cases, the media card 38 would have to be configured with sufficient functionality to take part in said communication process. For example, media card 38 may have to be configured with an appropriate digital certificate to participate in secure connection layer (SSL) communications with the server

40. The image data would be encrypted on the media card 38 before transmission to the server 40, where they would then be decrypted. Thus, even if the wireless network itself operated without encryption, communications from the media card to the server would remain secure.

6) Provide automated image enhancement (for example, red-eye reduction). When desired, some image enhancement or other processing (typically under the direction of the user) could be performed on the images when stored on the server 40 before being uploaded to other locations. Such services may be provided on a fee basis or otherwise.

7) Provide geotagging and correction of the time stamp. As explained better below, geotagging and other services can be provided so that users can better manage their images. Such services can also be used in conjunction with social network functionality so that users can share images taken in similar positions and / or at similar times, etc.

8) Archive images to CD or DVD (or other media). Again, such services may or may not be provided on a fee basis as an alternative to archiving solutions offered by third parties.

Once the images have been successfully stored or uploaded at the option of the user's providers, the server 40 can notify it to the media card 38 so that storage space can be automatically released on the card. Alternatively, the reception of the images on server 40 (in front of the final destination of the images) may be sufficient for the server to notify the media card 38 that the storage space may become available for new images. That is, the media card can overwrite memory locations in which image data was previously stored once the images have been successfully transferred from the camera. This allows the user to continue taking images without depleting the storage space on the media card 38. The uploaded images can be managed using the tools provided by the photofinishing and online photo sharing service providers, leaving unchanged and undisturbed. the rest of the user's photographic workflow.

Most wireless networks, including the popular 802.11 a / b / g variants, require the user to provide configuration information to find and associate with a network. Optionally, security tokens may be required to authenticate and encrypt the connection. As explained above, the networks available for use with the media cards of the present invention include a user's individual wireless home network, enterprise wireless networks, and free or paid wireless "hot spot" networks available in many centers. commercials such as coffee shops, bookstores, airports and hotels.

An important feature of the media card of the present invention is that it does not require specific software support from its host camera to manage and configure the wireless interface. Thus, the card is compatible with all legacy cameras that support its card type interface. In addition, the media card does not require the user's own input / output conduits. However, this does not mean that the media card does not require initial configuration. Instead, the required configuration information must be stored on the media card before entering it into the host camera. This configuration information is necessary so that the media card can be associated with at least one known network.

The configuration information of this "initial" network may be stored in the private partition of the media card or provided by attaching the media card to a personal computer (for example, by means of a "media card" reader connected to the personal computer through an interface such as a USB port) and running a configuration utility. This utility allows the user to store the configuration information for one or more wireless networks on the media card. In one embodiment, the configuration information is stored in the memory array of the media card as a file using the file input / output facilities provided by the computer's operating system or the image transfer protocol (PTP) for cameras that support it. The camera that hosts the media card has no utility for such a configuration file, because it does not represent any image or other digital photography data, and therefore the file can be stored in a separate directory from the one in which the images are stored . However, such a configuration file will be compatible with the file system in the File Assignment Table (FAT) of the card. In some cases, configuration information for access to public wireless networks may be preloaded on the media card, allowing its use without the need for initial configuration of the card through a user's personal computer. Such configuration using a personal computer (or other similar means) would still be necessary in order to make use of private networks (eg, home, office, campus).

This modification of the file system caused by the storage of the network configuration information is detectable by the extended functionality of the media card and the newly stored data is interpreted by the microprograms of the media card to extract the network information and configure the wireless interface accordingly. Such network configurations are known in the art of wireless networks and should not be repeated here. The important thing for the purposes of the present invention is that the configuration file is stored in a known memory location within the memory matrix of the media card. The computer-readable instructions stored on the media card are executed by the CPU and, as a result, the CPU is instructed to read this memory location and configure the wireless radio accordingly. Such configuration information may include, for example, the MAC address of a wireless network access point, its SSID, the channel number of the network, security keys (if used by the network) and other information necessary to associate the media card with the access point. Once the media card is able to associate with at least one wireless network and is able to connect to the server, all user management tasks can be performed through a web interface and any new configuration information sent to the media card by the server.

The presence of a wireless interface on the media card also allows the digital photographer to upload images to photo sharing sites while away from home (and, therefore, away from the "home" network configured by the user). Typically, the networks necessary for such "en route" charges are "wireless hot spots", which may or may not be free. Media cards configured according to the present invention maintain a "roaming list" of such wireless hot spots and the configuration and authentication information required to access them. In the case of free wireless hot spots, authentication information may not be necessary, although web forms may have to be processed and completed to proceed. Billing for “pay per use” in commercial hot spots can be supported by informing the user of the cost of such sessions before starting them and billing can be handled by an interaction between the server layer and the network provider.

Previously, the concept of image geotagging was mentioned. Digital cameras typically associate non-visual information (called metadata) with images (usually at or about the time the image is recorded). Such information may include the date and time the image was taken, the camera parameters used to take the image and personalized user comments. The EXIF standard allows the addition of arbitrary elements of binary data to digital images and standardizes certain types of data, including geographic position information. Geographical data of this type is not typically inserted by digital cameras, but rather is inserted into the "post-processing" of images by correlating the image time stamps with a registered GPS trace (global positioning system) performed by the photographer. The separate nature of the geographic data and the image / time stamp data and the resulting need to marry the two in post-processing make the geocoding of images a cumbersome and niche feature using conventional workflows.

In contrast, the media cards of the present invention can automatically associate geographic position information of varying levels of accuracy with images taken by any digital camera. In one embodiment, the media card can access GPS data with high accuracy. Such information can be provided by a comprehensive GPS receiver with the media card, or sent via a local wireless link (for example Bluetooth) from an external source of GPS data.

Alternatively, the approximate position of the user at the time of taking an image can be deduced by detecting wireless networks in the immediate environment and correlating the list of networks thus detected with a database containing a mapping of networks to geographical positions. Wireless networks, such as 802.11 compliant networks, are typically identified by a user's personalized "network name" (SSID) and a hardware-provided MAC address (uniquely assigned at the time of manufacturing the access point) . Therefore, such networks can be uniquely identified. Recently, commercial and volunteer databases have been established that provide mappings of these unique access point MACs (and, in some cases SKIDS) to position coordinates (eg GPS coordinates). Since the media cards of the present invention are configured to operate with wireless networks, the media cards are capable of detecting the SLID and MAC information emitted by any nearby access points.

In an embodiment of the present invention this network identification information is recorded on the media card at the time or approximately at the time of taking an image (or at other times such as when the wireless network identification data is received by the card media) and associates with images and / or with time stamp information. That is, the network identification information can be recorded at approximately the same time that one or more images are taken and associated with the images in the same way as other metadata. Alternatively, or in addition, the media card can record such network position information when it finds several access point broadcasts, whether they are taken or if images are not actually taken at those times. Such information can be recorded along with time stamps so that it acts as a kind of digital record of the movement of the media card between several wireless network zones.

In any case, once the images have been uploaded to the server layer or elsewhere, the network identification information can be used to index appropriate databases to derive geographic position information for said networks. The geographic position information can then be associated with the image data to geocode the images. In the case where the position network information was recorded at

or approximately at the same time as the images, the approximate position of the images will be available. In the case where network information was simply taken when it was available, the actual position of the images may not be available, but their approximate position may be deduced from an analysis of the network information (and resulting geographic information) captured in time. before and after the times when the images were taken. In other embodiments, both data sources (GPS data and network identification data) can be combined in a form of assisted GPS to geocode the images.

Once the digital images have been geographically tagged, photo album management tools and web interfaces can take advantage of this additional information to present the user's photo collection spatially (in addition to the chronological methods traditionally used). In addition, the user can be offered better photo search capabilities such as finding all the photos taken near a position or brand without the user having to remember when he took a specific image.

Passive exploration of wireless networks to ultimately derive geographic position can be referred to as "path history." It is known that access points for wireless networks conforming to

802.11 of the entire infrastructure (as opposed to ad hoc) transmits a periodic beacon package to announce their presence to mobile devices that can seek to access their respective networks. The access point is typically both the network management entity and the point at which the wireless network is bridged to a wired network. Beacon packets contain the only MAC address of the access point (a 48-bit binary string), as well as an optional (but typically provided) human readable network name (the SSID). Receiving the beacon package does not require the receiving station to have additional information to access the network, such as authentication and encryption keys.

Although it is probably not practical for a media card configured according to the present invention to keep your wireless transmitter on at all times, periodically turning on the wireless receiver to detect the presence of 802.11 beacon packets in the immediate environment represents only an incremental power drain in the battery of a host camera. Thus, media cards can periodically power their wireless receivers to register wireless network beacons. The record represents a track of network domain paths from where the photographer was (at least while the camera was on).

Once such a wireless network path record is available, the media card can employ one of several methods to convert the information to a geographic position trace:

1) In one case, which requires the least amount of additional storage load on the media card and power drain on the camera's battery, the information captured (for example, MAC address of access point and SSID) of the Most recently found wireless network is associated with images taken by the user. This data can be stored directly in EXIF compliant headers of the JPEG image file written by the camera or can be stored in a second file with a name according to the camera naming convention, but with a file name extension different from that of an image file. When user images are uploaded via the wireless interface, the server layer can convert the network information stored with each image to a geographic position by consulting a database. Using heuristics to match network detection events and image capture times, the server can then insert image position tags into the EXIF headers of the image before transferring them to the user's preferred online provider.

2) In an alternative embodiment, if the media card has enough non-volatile storage space on board to contain a mapping of global or regional network information to geographic position, the conversion of network information to position information can be done by totally resident way on camera. The database "on media card" can be kept updated by transferring any necessary updates during the user's connection to the server layer to upload images.

3) In another embodiment, the camera can take advantage of opportunistic connections to wireless networks to ask the server layer to convert network information to geographic information, without actually transferring any image. In this way, the media card can keep track of which images have gross geographic information of network information and consult the server layer to search for actual geographic information. When the server layer provides such information, it can be associated with the image information on the media card.

Although many mappings of wireless network access point information to geographic location databases are currently being compiled, the opportunistic collection of such information may result in incomplete coverage of geographic information based on a single source. To alleviate such a shortage of coverage and increase the geographical position data, the media cards of the present invention can also use geographical position deduction based on layer 3 (IP address).

Layer 3 access to the network requires that the media card be associated with a wireless network and receive a dynamically assigned IP address from the management access point (typically through a communication protocol such as DHCP (dynamic host configuration protocol )). While a camera is on, if the media card finds a wireless network with which it can be associated, it can poll the network using IP packets of increasing TTL thresholds (life time) to find the public IP address of the entire Internet of the access point to which it is connected. This IP address can then be used by the server layer in a manner similar to that explained above to obtain a mapping of the IP address to the geographical position of the access point.

Note that the network-based / network-assisted image tagging described here is not limited to images taken on media cards that have wireless network interfaces. That is, similar operations can be carried out using DSCs that have wireless network interfaces other than those included in a media card. As indicated above, a small number of DSCs begin to incorporate such wireless network capabilities. The geotagging techniques of the present invention are equally applicable where such cameras are used to capture images on conventional media cards.

Given the large high resolution image files captured by DSCs and the often limited upward bandwidth provided by the return (typically wired) network, for example, past the point where local area networks are bridged and wide area, to the connection of the media card to a wireless access point, it may be desirable (for reasons of bandwidth limitations determined after the connection of the media card to the wireless access point or user preference ) Quickly transfer lower resolution versions of all images taken, before loading high resolution counterparts. For example, preview images (for example, having a resolution of 160x120 pixels) are typically embedded in the header of the full resolution image file. In an embodiment of the present invention these previews are extracted from the image files and transmitted, without requiring additional image processing. Alternatively, or in addition, screen resolution images (approximately 640-800 pixels on the long side) can be generated by scaling the full resolution images using certain predefined scale ratios (for example, 1: 1, 1: 2, 1: 4, 1: 8 or 1:16), as described below. The scaled images can then be loaded in the manner described above with respect to the previews. These scales require relatively less computation than arbitrary scale operations. In cases where an exact resolution is desired, a final ascending or descending scale operation can be performed on the server layer once the scaled image has been loaded.

In other embodiments of the present invention, media cards configured with wireless radios can operate in an equals manner. In such a configuration, media cards can transmit a beacon, announcing their presence to other similarly configured media cards. Individual cards can be uniquely identified through individual MAC addresses. When media cards are found, they can be associated with each other (for example, through ad hoc networks established between their respective wireless radios) and register another's MAC address, perhaps with associated time stamps. Such is ad hoc networks and their establishment are characteristics well known in the art. However, the use of such networks to record the proximity of users of removable media cards is, according to the knowledge of the authors of the present invention, something not done so far. In other cases, media cards do not really have to establish ad hoc networks with one another and instead can simply record the observation of another media card beacon. In some embodiments, the beacon parameters (such as transmission times and if said beacons are hidden or visible by other media cards) can be set by users as part of the configuration routine for a media card.

Then, once this information has been uploaded to the server layer (together with the image data, etc.), this meeting data can be associated with user profile information that specifies particular user contacts or another network. Social. If matches are discovered, indicating that a user's media card found a media card from one of the user's contacts or other designated individuals, the user can be informed of it. This can act as a suggestion for the user to share images with the user found or to communicate with that individual in another way.

Peer exchanges described above are not limited to media cards that have wireless networking capabilities. For example, DSCs with wireless network capability can participate in similar "encounters." As with media cards, DSCs can record the observation of beacons of another (with or without establishing a real ad hoc network) and report such encounters to a server layer when they are coupled with communication with it (for example, as part of a session during which images are uploaded to the server). The meeting information may be used to initiate a search for social network connections among the users associated with the DSCs (or, more generally, the wireless transmitters that registered the encounter as such wireless transmitters may be associated with the DSC, the card media, or a peripheral device attached or associated with the DSC).

Exchanges between additional peers may involve images. That is, media cards and / or DSCs configured according to the present invention may be configured to exchange images with each other over ad hoc wireless networks. Appropriate user interfaces may be included with the DSCs or media cards to allow the user to control such exchanges. For example, users may be able to allow or deny such exchanges when media cards / DSCs near each other establish the ad hoc network. In some cases, these interfaces may include user-defined address books configured to identify known associates of a user when beacons or other identification criteria of a nearby media / DSC card are received.

Several operating modes are available for loading images. In an opportunistic mode, the media card will be associated with a wireless network and start uploading images (or resuming a previously interrupted charge) whenever there is an available wireless network. In a user-activated mode, association with wireless networks will be limited to preconfigured networks or will be undertaken only with user authorization.

The behavior of the media card in any basic operating mode can also be controlled by a set of media management policies, the connoisseur of the relevant attributes of the media card and its user, the server to which it has been connected (in the LAN or WAN), and the physical and / or network environment in which the media card itself is located. These attributes may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Place and time, related to both the physical position and the network context

User identity or group affiliation

The type of device or specific identity, potentially authenticated to the server

The type of server or the specific identity, potentially authenticated to the device

The copyright policy of the device and / or the server

The availability of network bandwidth and / or the cost of said bandwidth

Based on these attributes, current policies can refine the basic operating mode to determine if and what means should be moved, and any additional processing required before or after the transfer. As a result of such policies, decisions such as the desired quality and size of an image can be made, whether authorship or copyright metadata should be included, and if the images should be deleted after the transfer or simply copied to the server.

Regardless of the operating mode and current policies, a user can be informed of the development of the load by means of information displayed on the camera's image screen. That is, the present invention leverages the ability of conventional DSCs to present images and / or play movies to inform the user of the status of a load of images or other data over a wireless network, even if the camera is not configured for such transfers. .

In an embodiment of the present invention this functionality is achieved in the following manner. When the user wishes to upload one or more images, select a file stored on the media card. However, rather than a simple image file, this file acts as a trigger for the media card to start loading. Such a file can be stored on the media card at the time of its manufacture or as part of the initial configuration process described above. Preferably, the file is associated with an image that indicates the nature of the file so that, when selected during playback, the user is suggested to "play" the file in order to start loading. That is, the file may be associated with an image that includes text telling the user to "Press Play to start loading images" or similar information.

By selecting Play (or a similar order), the file will cause the processor of the media card to execute computer-readable instructions to transmit the images stored by the wireless network. In addition, the user can be presented with a classification user interface. The user interface may consist of a series of images or a film designed to inform the user of the status of the load. As depicted in Figure 4A, for example, a first image 48 in the sequence can report the status of the connection to the wireless network. Subsequent images 52 of the sequence, as depicted in Figure 4B, may also include a preview 50 of the digital image being transferred, and an updated status screen representing the progress to date. Progress bars are not, however, real-time progress bars, but rather stored images that are reproduced when the wireless radio reports the progress of image transfer. As the transfer progresses, images with more complete status bars can be reproduced to give the user the illusion of a real-time progress update. Playback of these images (or a movie) will stop (or a “completed” image will appear) once the image transfer is complete. Then you can turn off the wireless radio.

Various embodiments of the media cards of the present invention may incorporate means to restrict user access to high resolution digital image files stored therein. That is, some media cards configured according to embodiments of the present invention may include a security layer that joins the images stored to a particular photofinishing provider. This security is based on a shared secret held on the media card as well as the provider. As a result, the media card must be physically delivered to an authorized photo Finishing provider for processing, or unlocked within the context of a secure authenticated network session, in order to access the high resolution images stored on the card. media (for example, for printing or other form of publication). It should be noted that access to images stored on a media card configured according to the present invention can be restricted in one or two ways: in the wireless interface (authenticating the server endpoint and restricting the image destination option) or in the host interface (as explained immediately before). Alternatively,

or in addition, the online destination can be restricted (for example, based on the user) on the server layer, as a lighter form of investment protection than blocking images on card.

The ability to restrict access to high resolution images stored on the media card is possible through an understanding of the file system layer, which controls the arrangement of files and directories (file pools) through blocks Raw storage of media card. So, the

Individual files can be classified into one (or more) of various types of content, and additionally, specific policy (s) applied to files of each content class. Policies can execute file system permissions, for example, limiting access to write or delete. Policies can also specify operations of the appropriate type in the files themselves. The ability to dynamically add or modify the content and to observe the user's access to the content allows to establish a limited user interface channel through the host device (for example, a DSC). The status can be communicated to the user by means of still or moving informational images as explained above. User input can be detected based on file access settings, including read, modify or delete operations.

The access control scheme of the present invention allows an authorized host (for example, a computer system resident in or associated with a media card processing facility) to operate at a higher privilege level ("unlocked") than that granted to an unauthenticated host ("blocked"). Media cards configured according to the present invention do not imply or require any functionality outside the conventional functionality, in accordance with industry standards, of the media card when operating with an unauthenticated host. Unlocking can take place in tandem with the physical return of the unauthenticated host device to an authorized service position, or through a network using appropriate (and conventional) authentication techniques. Policies can take into account whether the card is locked or unlocked at the time of an operation, allowing more flexibility than traditional "all or nothing" access control schemes (for example, password-protected drives or partitions).

In one embodiment, a media card configured in accordance with the present invention provides storage of still and / or moving images for a DSC. The media card is locked while in the user's hands, and the policies outlined in Table 1 can be applied.

Table 1: Sample policies for media cards on an unauthenticated host device

Content Class

Locked? Politics

Still Image, JPEG Format

Yes Transparently replace image with screen resolution preview

Still Image, JPEG Format

Do not Restore Original Image

Motion picture, AVI format

Yes Written Quota Bytes

Motion picture, AVI format

Do not Reset Quota

Other (unknown format)

Yes Read access error

To better appreciate the access controls provided according to embodiments of the present invention, it is appropriate to review some underlying features of the removable media and conventional host devices. Most of the DSCs available today employ non-volatile storage devices inserted in their "digital film" slots. These non-volatile storage devices use a “FAT” or File Assignment Table to store images captured by the DSC. The FAT file system has its origins in MS-DOS, and several variants are used (for example, FAT-16 and FAT-32). FAT is specified for use in digital cameras as part of the JEITA CP-3461 standard, better known as DCF 2.0. In addition to the file system, DCF 2.0 (sections 3.2 and 5) specifies a hierarchy of directories as well as conventions for naming directories and files that are a subset of the FAT 8 + 3 naming scheme.

Before storing images on a storage device (for example, a flash memory of a media card), the DSC will determine if the device has been formatted according to the DCF specification. If not, the camera will prepare the memory device to store data in an organized way through a process called “formatting”. Formatting logically erases all existing data stored in the memory device and writes an empty file system structure in the FAT format. The camera's FAT software writes an empty File Assignment Table, which marks all data pools so that they are available for storing new files. An empty folder structure is written initializing an empty Root Directory Structure. The camera will then create new folders, according to processes outlined in the DCF specification, to carry out the logical separation of images stored in the memory device (for example, folders for the different cameras in which the memory device can be used simultaneously , for different dates when the user takes pictures, etc.).

JEITA CP-3451 “Interchangeable image file format for digital still cameras”, better known as EXIF, is a companion to the DCF specification. EXIF specifies image, sound and label formats for storage within the file system structure ordered by DCF. For example, and as indicated above, EXIF tags can be used for "artist" information (ie, photographer) and / or date / time information. Photographer information may be collected from account information provided by the user. In addition, time zone references according to the present invention can be added using GPS data to determine the corresponding time zone and write said information and / or an absolute time in a UTC referenced GPS time stamp field. In addition, peer-related information (for example, other users / DSCs present at or near the position of a DSC having a media card configured according to the present invention) can be written on the MakerNote tag. As with position metadata, the processing of such information can be performed on the media card, in the server layer or in a combination of these devices.

EXIF specifies the use of JPEG, formally known as ISO-IEC 10918-1 / ITU-T Recommendation T.81, for compressed images, and Adobe TIFF 6.0 for uncompressed images. Images of any format are annotated with TIFF style tags, recording camera and image parameters. The WAV format is specified for audio annotations, which must be associated with the images taken.

To take advantage of nonvolatile storage media, a camera is expected to dump metadata as well as updates to data blocks in the flash at the end of each operation. However, it is possible for a camera implementation to cache some or all of the FAT metadata of the file system, depending on a write cache discipline across to keep flash storage in sync. As a result, metadata updates made by the media card may not be observed until the camera is subsequently turned on, or whenever the metadata cache is refreshed.

FAT file attributes can be used to mark a read file only. DCF 2.0 (section 5.2.2.4) specifies support for the read attribute only to avoid accidental deletion (although some DSCs may not respect this attribute). Some cameras allow the tilt of the read attribute only (often represented as a key icon on the preview screen).

When an image is taken, the camera creates a file within the file system, after which the sequence of digital data encoding the image is stored in the file. The data is generally formatted in a conventional compressed image format (such as JPEG), specified by DCF. In order to complete the action of creating the file and storing the image data, the camera must perform the following set of actions (assuming that there is free space available on the device), although not necessarily in this exact order:

1) Starting with the root directory region of the file system, traverse the file system blocks that represent the hierarchy of directories stored on the device to find the Directory Table block for the directory (folder) in which it is to be Store the new image.

2) Add an entry to said Directory Table block describing the new file created. It contains information about the name of the file and where the start of the data (that is, the first block of data) for that file resides within the file system.

3) Find a free data group based on the information stored in the File Assignment Table. Mark this group of data as used and store the group image data in the continuous range of blocks representing the group (FAT allows the group size to be set at the time of creating the file system and indicates this size between 2 KB and 32 KB in the File Assignment Table structure).

4) Repeat step 3 as necessary until all the bytes of the image data have been written to the file system. When each new data group is written, link it uniquely from the previous group so that the image file can be read logically contiguously, even if the data groups are scattered around the media in which the file is saved. File System.

All file system updates made by the digital camera host appear as write access to the flash storage authorized by the media card storage device. The microprograms of the media card can detect the termination of these groups of operations using a series of heuristics so that they are compatible with a wide range of implementations of the file system operations in fixed digital cameras:

1) Wait for a predetermined amount of time after the last write access to the flash storage made by the host device. If more write accesses occur during the expiration period, assume that the host device continues to update the file system, reset the timer and continue waiting.

2) Once the time expires, explore the directory structure of the file system and detect if new files have been created since the last scan by comparing the directory structure with a copy saved during the last scan.

3) For each new file that was detected, review the list of single-link data groups until the end of the list, at which point the number of bytes of data stored in the data groups should match the size of the file as indicated in the directory table entry for the file. If the scan ends soon, assume that the expiration period during step 1 was too short, invalidate the scan results, increase the expiration period and return to step 1 so that the host device can complete the file system update .

When the microprograms of the media card detect the completion of the creation of new image files in the file system, a background task begins, which is executed at a lower priority to allow normal data access operations to continue without obstacles, in order to create scaled down versions of the new images. For each new image created by the external host (most commonly the DSC):

1) Read the JPEG header of the file to obtain information about the resolution (width and height in pixels) of the image. If the JPEG image contains an optional EXIF header, inspect the presence of a camera orientation indication in the header to detect if the image was taken in landscape orientation (larger dimension along the top of the image) or vertical ( smaller dimension along the top of the image). If EXIF information is not available, assume a landscape image if the width of the image is greater than the height or a vertical image otherwise.

2) Using the resolution and image orientation information, take one of the 1: 1, 1: 2, 1: 4, 1: 8 or 1:16 scale ratios to reduce the image resolution as much as possible , but not less than 320 pixels by 240 pixels for landscape orientation images and 240 pixels for 320 pixels for vertical orientation images while maintaining the aspect ratio of the original image. These scale relationships are unique because the computational load of JPEG decompression can be reduced to make the operation take less time compared to a complete decompression followed by an arbitrary ratio scale. In some embodiments this scale ratio may be a programmable feature definable by a service provider offered by the media device and the ratio may be any relationship or relationships selected by the provider (including 1: 1, that is, not reduced resolution) . After JPEG decompression and fast scale operation by fixed ratio combined, further scale the image by simple decimation to have a dimension equal to 320 pixels or 240 pixels depending on the aspect ratio of the original image.

3) Write a new compressed JPEG file containing the image scaled into flash memory by allocating data blocks from the free physical block database, without providing any new logical-to-physical address block mapping for the file system.

4) In an atomic operation, explore the structure of the FAT file system corresponding to the original image file to change the physical address to logical translation of the data blocks containing the FAT data groups of the file. Specifically, update the mappings of the first N blocks where N is the number of blocks that amounts to the size of the scaled image that was written in step 3 for translation to physical block addresses containing the scaled image. Remove the mappings for the blocks that contain the rest of the data groups for the file (the original file, which is a much higher resolution image, contains many more blocks than the scaled image).

5) Add a tracking entry to the persistent mapping database to associate the now orphaned physical blocks containing the original unmodified image file with the FAT file name (including full folder path) of the scaled image ( which, from the camera perspective, now appears instead of the original full resolution image file). This association does not represent a block level mapping, but a mere indication to the microprograms that if the camera (or other external host) ever deletes the file corresponding to the scaled image, the media card must release the physical blocks corresponding to the full resolution image, effectively deleting it.

After the completion of these steps, each image taken by the DSC and stored in the storage device has been replaced by an image identical to a lower resolution (the original high resolution images are still stored in the media, but are inaccessible for the host). These reduced resolution images are directly accessible by the DSC, allowing the user to use the camera's review and display features and choose to keep or delete images. Physical flash memory blocks that contain the original full resolution image data do not have logical to physical address mappings inside the media card, so that the camera or any other host that accesses the media card does not You can recover the high quality full resolution image for viewing, printing or transmission using block-level access semantics. The data blocks are protected against all external access to the media card until a higher level authentication exchange takes place between the device and an authenticated / authorized host.

One of the challenges of performing image manipulation of the type described above is that DSC manufacturers can choose to support only a limited subset of DCF directory structure and JPEG file syntax. The camera can also be based on vendor-specific EXIF header fields, for example to determine the orientation of the image. Camera implementations often assume that only they will write to the media card; that is, the card is dedicated to a single camera, and a host PC will only read / delete images. This implies that the only images that the camera is guaranteed to read properly are those that the camera itself has formatted. The corollary is that images inconsistently formatted can produce undesirable, and generally unpredictable, behavior in the camera. We refer to this vendor or camera specific formatting as "Normal Camera Shape", and we accept it when creating versions of reduced resolution images generated by the camera. Note that these issues are also relevant for preloading still or moving image content, and may require the user to take an image with the camera before the card can know the appropriate CNF with which to present the preloaded images.

If the user chooses to erase any of the images that were previously taken with the camera, the camera has to update the file system information on the storage device. Specifically, the camera:

1) Write in the Directory Table block for the folder that contains the image to be removed, removing the name and information from the file system for the file corresponding to the table image.

2) Update the blocks in the File Assignment Table to mark as free the group of data blocks used by the deleted file.

The file detection system update mechanism described above also detects that these operations, like all file system updates performed by the host digital camera, including file deletion, appear as write access to flash storage. When scanning the directory structure after the update detection, if the microprograms on the media card notice that some files are missing from the updated scan results, it infers that the files have been deleted from the file system. At this point, the media card has to do something because the files erased by the camera were not the original high-resolution copies of the image, but rather substitutes scaled down. Using the information that was associated with the image file names that were replaced by the scaled down copies, the microprograms put the physical blocks of data into the flash memory that corresponds to the high resolution version of the deleted files and returns the blocks to the group of free physical blocks in the persistent database.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the cost to the consumer of the media card can be subsidized by a provider, and / or consumers are "bound" to the "network" of performing the printing and other services of a provider concrete. Remember that the media card can functionally act as a security mechanism that restricts access to high-resolution hard copies of user photos. During normal operation, the user can take images, check them on the camera's view screen, delete unwanted images and even download copies of the images at limited screen resolution to a personal computer (for example, using a card reader media or using the camera's PC connectivity solution). In all of these user-activated operations where the media card is in “locked” (or unauthenticated) mode, the only memory blocks that can be accessed are those that retain previously scaled down versions of images. Once the media card is returned to a processing position authorized for processing, said processing station (for example, a personal computer running appropriate software) unlocks the media card and distributes the full resolution images to the processing line. digital photographic services of the provider. Note that authentication for printing or other processing can take place on a per visit / media card basis (for example, an authentication can be valid for all stored images) or on an per image basis (for example, authentication can be applied only to specific images retrieved from the device) to facilitate various billing options.

The steps to establish and operate the authentication mechanism incorporated in a media card configured according to embodiments of the present invention are the following (see Figure 5):

1) Before delivering a media card to a user, an authentication key (KA) consisting of random bits with sufficient cryptographic entropy is selected. This key is stored in a region of flash memory that is never accessible to users (for example, the same area that contains the microprograms). A copy of the key is kept in an authentication database and is associated with the serial number of the corresponding media card (the serial number can also be in the microprograms of the device in a readable region without restrictions).

2) During normal operation, the media card driver and microprograms remain in the "locked" mode, replacing images taken by users with screen resolution previews and safeguarding full resolution originals as has been previously described.

3) When a media card is returned to an authorized processing position, the processing software starts the authentication operation by contacting an authentication server (for example, hosting the authentication database) with a start message of session and receive an encrypted salt (SSRVR) dynamically derived from a linear feed shift register (LFSR) counter and time of day. The server associates this salt with the established connection and remembers it during the rest of the exchange. The dynamic nature of this salt eliminates the possibility of replay attacks if the unlocking station is in danger

or run malicious software.

4) The processing station then presents the salt received from the server to the media card that is unlocked. The device responds by providing a strong cryptographic hash (such as MD5) calculated on the secret authentication key (KA), the device serial number (NSERIAL) and the server salt (SSRVR). The calculated hash and the serial number are transmitted to the server.

5) The server uses the serial number to find its copy of the secret key of the media card in the authentication database. Using said key, the serial number provided by the unlocking station and the server salt associated with this connection (which are remembered from step 3), the server calculates the cryptographic hash using the same algorithm used by the media card in the Step 4. If the hash calculated by the server is identical to that received from the unlocking station, the authentication is successful and the legitimation of the media card can be relied upon. If the hash comparison fails, the server indicates an authentication failure and terminates the connection.

6) At this point the authentication server can trust that a valid media card is present at the other end of the connection (and not, for example, an arbitrary software automaton that may be trying to access the database and mine for information), but the authenticity of the server has not yet been demonstrated to the media card. The device provides its own dynamically generated salt (SCARD) that is transmitted to the server by the unlocking station software. The server applies the same cryptographic hash function as used in steps 4 and 5 to calculate a signature using the secret key, the serial number and the salt provided by the device. This signature is offered back to the media card, which calculates its own copy of the hash using its knowledge of the KA, NSERIAL and SCARD. If the calculated hash corresponds to the one received from the server, the authenticity of the server is demonstrated because the hash can only be calculated correctly with knowledge of the KA authentication key.

7) With the successful completion of step 6, the media card and the server ensure their mutual authenticity. In addition, the processing station that is acting as an intermediary during the transaction is not trusted because the data transmitted through it is made up of strong cryptographic hashes that depend on a shared secret (KA) between the server and the device, but they do impossible (or computationally very expensive) to derive the secret knowing the resulting hashes and the other two constituents of hash operations due to irreversibility. At this point the server takes an encrypted key (KE), which can be a dynamically generated one-time key or another precomputed key that was stored in the database, encrypted using KA and a cryptographic algorithm such as 3DES and transmits to the unlocking station. The unlocking station provides this encrypted key to the media card, which decrypts it using KA and retrieves the unencrypted KE key that is used during the rest of the raw data transfers from the card.

8) With the successful arrival of the unprocessed data encryption key, the media card enters its “unblocked state”, so the FAT file system presented by the device makes the entire length of the data available stored in the files that represent the full resolution photos taken by the user. However, when the operating system running at the unlocking station reads the blocks in flash memory that correspond to the FAT data blocks for the files, each data block is returned to the host via the physical interface (compact flash ( CF), Secure Digital (SD), etc.) after being encrypted by the raw data key KE. The encrypted data is not usable by the processing station because it does not know the KE.

9) If the processing station is associated with an authorized photo finish seller (such as a retail store, a wholesale printing service) whose identity can be established with a sufficient degree of certainty based on your address network and an identity certificate (such as those used by SSL), the authentication server can share the raw data key KE with the processing station to be able to decrypt the data recovered from the media card and make immediate use of the images.

10) If the processing station is not said seller (for example, if it is a user PC), then the unlocking is more restricted. In this case, the data recovered from the media card is sent in its encrypted form to the authentication server, where they are decrypted and uploaded to the provider associated with the serial number of the media card (for example, recovered from the database authentication data).

11) Alternatively, the media card can offer both the user PC and the authorized processing station hosts the ability to directly receive and decrypt individual images. In this way, the processing station sends a request for a specific image (based, for example, on its file name) to the media card. The media card dynamically generates an encrypted key (KP) for the image and permanently associates it with said image by storing it in a non-host-accessible portion of the flash memory so that it can be reused for later decryption. Then it encrypts the image key with the authentication key KA and returns the encrypted results to the processing station. The processing station then contacts the authentication server and makes the request to decode the specific image and reviews the encrypted image key. If the authentication server decides that the processing station is authorized to decrypt this individual image and access its full resolution copy, based on a predetermined trust or authorization, or a timely authorization operation (such as card billing

5), decrypts the image key received with KA and returns it to the processing station, which can then use the simple text key to decrypt the content of said individual image read from the media card.

Thus, content-sensitive digital media storage devices compatible with the

10 existing specifications for media card formats for digital imaging and other devices.

Claims (11)

1. One method, including: authorize a transfer of data representing a digital image captured by a host digital camera to an in-memory storage array of a removable media card (38) housed inside the digital camera by logical-to-physical, microprogram-controlled, address mapping of the memory storage array in which the data is to be written, the microprograms being stored on the removable media card; transfer, under the control of a loading agent resident in the removable media card and in response to a user order, the data representing the digital image of the memory storage array of the removable media card to a server layer managed (40), said transfer being made by means of a wireless radio transceiver included in the removable media card and a wireless network access point (42) with which the wireless radio transceiver of the removable media card is associated, and said transfer being made after the managed server layer authenticate a user associated with the removable media card; Y transfer the data representing the digital image from the managed server layer to an electronic photo album, where the transfer is made by the managed server layer after the managed server layer has manipulated the data representing the digital image so that they can be received by the electronic photo album, thereby isolating the removable media card from the electronic photo album, where the method includes, before transferring the digital image to the electronic photo album, associating metadata with said digital image, said metadata including some information relating to: parameters of the host digital camera when the digital image was taken; a position in which the digital image was taken; an identity, or comments, of a user of the host digital camera; an identity of others near the position in which the digital image was taken; o time and / or date information; where the time and / or position metadata are derived from some of the global positioning system data, information related to wireless networks that is determined to be near the removable media card when the digital image was taken, information related to Wireless networks detected by the removable media card, or combinations of any of the above.

2.

The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic photo album is maintained in a computer resource other than the managed server layer.

3.

The method of claim 2, wherein the metadata includes a time stamp referenced to a time zone relative to a position in which the digital camera took the digital image.

Four.

The method of claim 2, wherein before transferring the data representing the digital image of the managed server layer to the electronic photo album, the digital image is transcoded to be compatible with image format requirements for storage in the album. of electronic photos.

5.

The method of claim 1, wherein after the successful transfer of the data representing the digital image from the removable media card to the managed server layer, the data representing the digital image is automatically deleted from the memory storage array. of the removable media card.

6.

The method of claim 1, wherein the managed server layer is configured to allow image enhancement under the direction of the user.

7.

The method of claim 1, wherein the removable media card is configured to record information relative to the data representing digital images that have already been successfully transferred to the managed server layer, and to use the recorded information to prevent copy transfer duplicates of data representing digital images.

8.

The method of claim 1, wherein the managed server layer is configured to compare newly received data representing digital images with previously received data representing digital images, and to eliminate duplicate copies of data representing digital images.

9.

The method of claim 1, wherein in the case of an interruption during the transfer of data representing a digital image from the removable media card to the managed server layer, the managed server layer is configured to request re-transfer of the data to the successful reconnection of the media card and the managed server layer.

10.

The method of claim 1, wherein the managed server layer is configured to distribute a copy of the data representing the digital image as an attachment to an email, or via MMS or RSS.

eleven.

The method of claim 1, wherein the managed server layer is configured to notify the user of the successful transfer of the data representing the digital image.