WO2001031907A1

WO2001031907A1 - Method for dispensing photographs

Info

Publication number: WO2001031907A1
Application number: PCT/FR2000/002989
Authority: WO
Inventors: Darius Lahoutifard
Original assignee: Commercee S.A.
Priority date: 1999-10-29
Filing date: 2000-10-26
Publication date: 2001-05-03
Also published as: AU1282301A; FR2800483A1

Abstract

The invention concerns a method for dispensing and displaying images by an image capture unit, using a computerised network such as Internet. The invention is characterised in that it comprises the following steps: the image capture unit provides the client with a customised authenticating means associated with the images, for connection on the Internet site of an Internet service provider; the image capture unit produces a client-customised set of images; the Internet service provider makes said images accessible on its site provided the customised authentication or identification means associated with said images is used.

Description

METHOD FOR DISTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHS

The present invention relates to a method for consulting professional photographs presented on the Internet. The invention also relates to methods of protecting the means of access to these photographs.

The use of the Internet is well known for presenting any type of information using multimedia means. In particular, the presentation of photographic works in the context of virtual art galleries is a common use of this communication medium.

There are also websites intended for the presentation of personal photographs which have been given to be developed to a particular service provider. The service provider is responsible for digitizing the photographs, if they are not already recorded in a digital format, and gives access to a specific part of its website in which these photographs are collected. The client generally receives a username and password allowing him to view his photographs. This system allows the customer to consult online the photographs he has had developed and to make specific orders related to these photographs. The identifier can be temporary, which means that each set of photographs is associated with a particular identifier, or permanent. A permanent identifier is used to create an updated photographic album with each new set of photographs. For example, photography-filming on tourist places or vacation spots is traditionally done by photographers who present the photos in the studio to the people concerned, and these people, if they wish, buy the photographs. This process does not prevent a no one can see another person's photos taken on the same day or with the same film. This drawback is even more annoying when exhibiting these photographs on the Internet because the widest audience can view the personal and private photographs of a person or a group of people.

The patent WO9948276 relates to a method for accessing via the Internet images stored in a digital image capture unit, comprising an imaging device and a display. The image capture unit (digital camera for example) is used to capture images and to store them in its internal memory. It accesses an identification server via the Internet and stores its identity and Internet address on the Web server. A user can then access the image capture unit by entering the identity of said unit in his web browser. This, by standard Internet protocols, requests the identification server the identity of the image capture unit and extracts the Internet address. The latter is used to access a web page hosted by the image capture unit and to display said page for the user. The web page provides access to the images stored in the image capture unit. This method has the drawback of requiring permanent availability, and of high speed, between the page server and the memory of the image capture unit.

French patent FR2774537 relates to a method and an Internet information device, which device comprises a website linked to a first user Intranet point and to a second user Internet point. The first user point is connected to deliver managed multi-level information to the website. The second user point is connected to allow access- multi-level user to the managed information, a first selected password allowing user access to all the managed information and another selected password allowing user access to a limited part of the managed information.

This is an architecture requiring two servers to talk to each other. It is not suitable for occasional users who do not wish to invest in sophisticated IT infrastructures. The object of the present invention is to enable a professional photographer, or more generally any photographic service provider, to manage the offers intended for his customers. The method according to the invention overcomes this drawback. The invention relates to a method of distributing and presenting images by an image taker, using a computer network of the Internet type. This process includes the following steps:

- the image taker gives the customer a personalized authentication means associated with the shots, for connection to the website of an Internet provider;

- the image taker takes a set of personalized shots for the client; - the Internet service provider makes said shots accessible on its website, provided that the personalized authentication or identification means associated with these shots are used.

The Internet provider links the images to the customer. He is in charge of the commercial management of the images taken by the image taker and the management of the website. He can for example decide to use a host and an organization specialized in payment management in order to focus on the marketing part. The communication of identifiers is carried out directly between the image taker and the customer. These identifiers are not public, and do not allow unexpected access to the hosted images. The invention thus differs from digital image databases, accessible on the Internet as a whole. It preferably consists in recording the images during their transfer by the image taker in a dedicated and not public memory space, and not in a common base containing the images of the other image takers.

Advantageously, a personalized authentication means is associated with each shot taken.

In a variant, the personalized authentication means is associated with predefined sets of shots.

In one embodiment, the creation of personalized authentication means consists in coding the shots by an algorithm of the checksu type.

In a preferred variant, the authentication means consists of a set of personalized codes defined by the image taker. Custom codes can be defined independently of the customer. According to a characteristic of the invention, the method according to the invention comprises an additional step of offering for sale the shots taken by the taker of views. The Internet service provider, the host of the Internet service provider's site or a payment collection agency carries out the operations of selling said images.

The images consist of digital photographs or digital video images. The customer can then buy all or part of the video images presented to him. In a variant, the Internet provider and the viewer are the same entity.

The authentication or identification means may also include information concerning the parameters of the shots, for example information concerning the image taker.

The image taker, usually a photographer, prepares before the filming, shooting or reporting session, a list of predefined codes corresponding to photos. There will therefore be a bijective correspondence between each photo and each code. The code is made up of two adjacent parts. The first part of the code includes a plain text index allowing the photo to be found sequentially. The second part of the code is generated, by a single computer program of the "Checksum" type, from the first part. Only the photographer and / or the organization on which the photographer depends know the algorithm of this program. For each photo taken, the photographer communicates to the person or group of people concerned, the corresponding code, on paper or digital media, at the time of taking the photos. A website is developed for this purpose to display the photos taken. These people enter the code (s) and view the photo (s). Since the same computer program that enabled the generation of the code will be present in the scripts of the web pages of the site, the authenticity of the code will be checked before displaying the photo. Thus, only these people will be able to consult their photos and possibly buy them on the Internet. A person, who will try any indexing digit, may luckily come across an existing code, but will not be able to know the second part of the code generated according to a particular algorithm of the "checksum" type. This process protects personal, private and confidential photos. During sessions where several photos are taken of the same person or the same group of people, it will be difficult to generate and communicate - on a practical level - a large number of codes. To avoid communicating several codes, the photographer will communicate the first and the last code of the indexed series.

Thus, it is easy to cut out, during an event report, whatever the circumstances, the photo sequences according to the agenda of the event. For example, the photos indexed from 1 to 20 can be intimate photos related to the preparation of the bride, while those from 70 to 90 correspond to dinner / dancing, and can be communicated to all participants. In this case, the codes corresponding to photos 1 and 50 are only communicated to the bride and groom, while the codes corresponding to photos 70 and 90 will be communicated to all of the guests who will be able to view all the photos indexed between 70 and 90 During the Internet connection, the site program will verify the authenticity of the first and last code, and will automatically generate all the intermediate codes, in order to display them.

A variant consists in calculating a grouping code for access to a determined subset of the recorded images, and to this subset only.

The clear part of the code may include information that can be easily remembered by those photographed, such as:

- The site or location of the filming; - The photographer's registration number;

- The date of the filming.

The invention will be better understood by the description of an exemplary embodiment.

A filming on the site of the Eiffel Tower, which is attributed to the photographer carrying the registration number 12, carried out on November 11, 1999, will include codes for which the clear part will begin with:

12991111001 and can go up to 12991111999

We recognize: - The number of the photographer in charge of the site

"Eiffel Tower" in the first two digits,

- The date of the shooting on the following 6 digits,

- An indexing of photos from 1 to 999

The "checksum" program generates three letters which will complete the code and which constitute the second part of it. The complete codes will thus be of the type 12991111001xxx up to 12991111999yyy Any algorithm of checksum can be used, as long as it is the same algorithm which is used to generate the code as for authenticating this one. As an example, the following algorithm:

Let us take as value for "X", the number of the photographer (X = 12 in the example above). Then "Y", the date of the shooting expressed in year on two digits, month and day (Y = 991111 in the example above). Finally "Z" will have the value of the index (Z = 1 in the example above for the first code and Z = 999 for the last code). The algorithm searches for three letters of the alphabet. The first letter results from the remainder of dividing X + Y + z by 26 (number of letters of the alphabet). In the example above, for the first code.

X + Y + Z = 991124 = (38120 * 26 + 4). The remainder of the division being 4, the first letter of the first code is D.

The second letter results from the remainder of the division of | x + y-z | by 26. In the example above, for the first code | X + Y-Z | = 991122 = (38120 * 26 + 2). The remainder of the division being 2, the second letter of the first code is B.

The third letter results from the rest of the division of | xyz | by 26. In the example above, for the first code | XYz | = 991100 = (38119 * 26 + 6). The remainder of the division being 6, the third letter of the first code is F.

The algorithm of the checksum program above therefore ensures the entry of a digit on 11 digits and uniquely generates the output of three letters.

So the first valid code is 12991111001DBF.

Claims

1 - Method of distribution and presentation of images by an image taker, using a computer network of the Internet type, characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

- the image taker communicates to the client a personalized authentication means associated with the shots, for connection to the website of an Internet provider;

- the image taker takes a set of personalized shots for the client; the image taker transfers the digital images to the server of the Internet provider, and associated with said images the authentication means; the Internet service provider makes said shots accessible on its website provided that the personalized authentication or identification means associated with these shots are used.

2 - A method of distributing and presenting images according to claim 1 characterized in that a personalized authentication means is associated with each shot taken.

3 - A method of distributing and presenting images according to claim 1 characterized in that a personalized authentication means is associated with sets of predefined shots.

4 - A method of distributing and presenting images according to claim 1 characterized in that the creation of personalized authentication means consists in coding the shots by an algorithm of the checksum type. 5 - A method of distributing and presenting images according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the authentication means consists of a set of personalized codes defined by the image taker.

6 - A method of distributing and presenting images according to claim 5 characterized in that the personalized codes are defined independently of the client.

7 - A method of distributing and presenting images according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the images consist of digital photographs.

8 - A method of distributing and presenting images according to any one of claims 1 to 6 characterized in that the images consist of digital video images.

9 - A method of distributing and presenting images according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the Internet provider and the viewer are the same entity.

10 - A method of distributing and presenting images according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the authentication or identification means comprise the information concerning the parameters of the shots.

11 - Method for distributing and presenting images according to any one of the claims above, characterized in that the authentication or identification means comprise the information concerning the image taker.