Image Editing Apparatus Visual Frame Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for editing and printing motion picture images struggle to determine the range of images to be printed, often relying on time measurements, which can be uncertain, making it difficult to obtain desired prints.
Innovation Solution
An image editing apparatus and method that allows users to select and edit continuous image data by setting starting and ending images or specific frames, enabling extraction and arrangement of images in a desired layout for printing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If time measurement methods are used to determine the range of images to be printed, then the loading process can be automated, but the precision of determining the desired image range deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical/time-based measurement system with a visual display system. Instead of measuring time to determine image ranges, the system displays thumbnail images on a screen, allowing users to visually select the desired range. This substitution of the selection mechanism resolves the contradiction by eliminating time measurement uncertainty while maintaining automated processing.
2Productivity
If the number of frames to be loaded is specified in advance, then the loading process becomes efficient, but the ability to select the most desirable image portions deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary loading of multiple frames into memory based on user-specified time ranges, then presents these pre-loaded frames for visual selection. This allows efficient bulk loading while maintaining the flexibility to select the most desirable portions, resolving the contradiction between loading efficiency and selection adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a visual display interface as an intermediary between the loading system and the final selection. The display shows thumbnail images that mediate between the automated loading process and the user's desire to select specific portions, allowing both efficient loading and precise selection to coexist.
3Ease of operation
If visual display of image ranges is implemented, then the ease of selecting desired images improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates simplified copies (thumbnails) of the actual images for display purposes. These reduced-resolution representations allow visual selection without requiring the full complexity of displaying and processing high-resolution images, thus improving ease of operation while limiting the increase in device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
The motion picture image print apparatus extracts a plurality of frames from recorded motion picture data for printing, the apparatus enabling the range of loaded images to be determined from images reproduced on a screen, not from the results of measurement of time, thus allowing a desired print to be more easily obtained. An operator reads motion picture image data recorded on a recording medium. The operator then sets a layout of a print output and the number of image frames in the print output to display a list of motion picture image files on a list screen, thereby selecting motion picture image file to be printed. The operator then depresses a motion picture control button to reproduce the selected motion picture image file in the check area. While viewing the reproduced images, the operator sets at least either a print starting image or a print ending image by depressing a “From” button or a “To” button, respectively. Thus, images corresponding to a predetermined number of frames are extracted from the set range of images at equal intervals. The extracted images are edited so as to be arranged in the set layout and are then printed.