Digital Image Communication Method with Active Zones
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current communication methods require users to manually enter or store communication addresses, which is tedious and lacks flexibility, especially when contacting service providers, and previous 'click-to-call' techniques are not user-friendly for personal contacts, with metadata-based solutions being complex and costly.
Innovation Solution
A communication method that involves loading a digital image with active zones, where metadata is interpreted by a remote server to determine communication addresses, allowing users to initiate calls or send messages without revealing contact information, and enabling flexible management of addresses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If metadata-based click-to-call techniques are used, then users can contact correspondents without manually entering addresses, but the terminal must interpret and process metadata which increases complexity and cost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a network server as an intermediary that performs the metadata interpretation and communication address determination. Instead of the terminal directly interpreting metadata (which increases terminal complexity), the terminal simply transmits the digital image with metadata to the server, and the server handles the complex processing of interpreting the metadata and determining the communication address. This transfers the computational burden from the terminal to the server, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and terminal complexity.
2Ease of operation
If communication addresses are stored in electronic address books, then users can initiate calls without entering addresses, but users must manually fill in the address book which is tedious
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables the system to perform preliminary actions by automatically extracting communication addresses from digital images with metadata. Instead of requiring users to manually fill in address books beforehand, the system can pre-process images, extract metadata, and automatically populate address book information when needed. This eliminates the tedious manual filling process while maintaining the convenience of address book-based contact initiation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs self-service by automatically interpreting metadata in digital images and extracting communication addresses without user intervention. When a user provides a digital image with metadata, the server automatically processes the metadata, determines the communication address, and can even automatically update the user's address book. This eliminates the need for users to manually maintain address books, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and time investment.
3Ease of operation
If metadata contains communication addresses, then click-to-call works, but communication addresses become public and cannot be kept confidential
Solution Approach 1:
The server acts as a confidential intermediary that handles communication address information. The digital image with metadata can be freely shared and transmitted to the server, but the actual communication address determination and usage occur through the server's secure processing. The server interprets the metadata and determines the communication address without exposing it in the transmitted data, thereby maintaining confidentiality while enabling click-to-call functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses a copy of the communication address information embedded in the metadata rather than the actual communication address itself. The metadata contains reference information that the server uses to determine the real communication address through secure lookup processes. This allows the click-to-call functionality to work with the metadata copy while keeping the actual communication address confidential and protected from unauthorized exposure.
4Ease of operation
If photographs are stored as address book entries, then visual address book is created, but memory space is consumed and browsing becomes time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of storing actual photograph files in the address book (which consumes significant memory space), the system stores lightweight metadata references that point to the digital images. The metadata contains essential information such as image identifiers or encoded reference data that allows the terminal to retrieve or display the associated images on demand. This dramatically reduces memory space consumption while maintaining the visual address book functionality, as only small metadata structures are stored permanently rather than large image files.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from storing complete image data in the address book to storing metadata references in a different dimension (data structure space). Instead of the traditional approach of embedding full-resolution photographs in the address book database, the system uses metadata that references images stored elsewhere (such as on the server or in dedicated image storage). This dimensional shift from storing image content to storing image references reduces memory consumption while preserving the visual browsing capability through on-demand image retrieval.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a communication method including a step of loading (I) a digital image onto a terminal (T1) by a user, comprising the steps of: activating an active area (ZA, ZB) of said image after a user action; transmitting an activation message to a remote server (SCC), said remote server determining a communication address associated with said active area through the interpretation of metadata of said image associated with said active area.