Printing digital images using an image printing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9383947-B2
Application number	US-201414243658-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 2, 2014
Priority date	Apr 2, 2014
Publication date	Jul 5, 2016
Grant date	Jul 5, 2016

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed toward printing of digital images with increased efficiency and ease. In particular, one or more embodiments provide an image printing system that allows a user to print images from a mobile or other device without having to upload a high-resolution version of the digital images to a print vendor. More specifically, one or more embodiments of the image printing system allow users to store images on a remote server or in a cloud storage space. When the users desire to print physical copies of the digital images, the image printing system can provide the digital images to a print vendor without requiring the users to upload the images to the print vendor from the users' own device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of facilitating printing of images without requiring an upload of the images from devices requesting the printing of the images, comprising:
receiving, at one or more servers, a high-resolution image from a first user mobile device;
storing, by the one or more servers, the high-resolution image;
sending, in response to receiving the high-resolution image, a low-resolution image corresponding to the high-resolution image to a second user mobile device;
receiving a request to print the high-resolution image from the second user mobile device, the request comprising a selection of the low-resolution image corresponding to the high-resolution image;
identifying the high-resolution image based on the request;
associating an authentication token with the high-resolution image, the authentication token comprising a pointer to a cloud-based location of the high-resolution image;
sending, in response to the request, the authentication token to the second user mobile device to provide to the print vendor;
receiving the authentication token from the print vendor, the authentication token provided to the print vendor from the second user mobile device;
authenticating the print vendor based on the authentication token; and
providing, by the one or more servers, the print vendor access to the high-resolution image in response to receiving the authentication token from the print vendor and authenticating the print vendor.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the pointer to the cloud-based location of the high-resolution image is a uniform resource locator corresponding to the cloud-based location.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 , further comprising:
transferring the high-resolution image to the location indicated by the uniform resource locator corresponding to the cloud-based location; and
deleting the high-resolution image from the cloud-based location indicated by the uniform resource locator after a predetermined amount of time.

4. The method as recited in claim 2 , further comprising disabling the uniform resource locator after a predetermined amount of time.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
modifying, by the one or more servers, the high-resolution image;
wherein providing the print vendor access to the high-resolution image comprises providing the modified high-resolution image to the print vendor.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 , further comprising determining a color profile associated with a printer at the print vendor;
wherein modifying the high-resolution image comprises modifying the high-resolution image in accordance with the determined color profile.

7. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein modifying the high-resolution image comprises one or more of applying a red-eye reduction to the high-resolution image, de-blurring the high-resolution image, sharpening the high-resolution image, or cropping the high-resolution image.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising sending, in response to receiving the high-resolution image from the first user mobile device, a low-resolution image corresponding to the high-resolution image to the first user mobile device.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
generating the low-resolution image from the high-resolution image; and
sending the low-resolution image to the second client device.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein:
the high-resolution image comprises a full-resolution image; and
the low-resolution image comprises a thumbnail of the full-resolution image.

11. The method as recited in claim 10 , further comprising:
establishing a group for sharing photos related to an event, the group including a first user of the first client device and a second user of the second client device; and
sending the thumbnail of the full-resolution image to the first client device and the second client device based on the first user and the second user being participants in the group without sending the full-resolution image.

12. A system for facilitating printing of images without requiring an upload of the images from devices requesting the printing of the images, comprising:
at least one server;
at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions thereon, that when executed by at least one processor, cause the system to:
receive a high-resolution image from a first user mobile device;
store the high-resolution image at the at least one server;
send, in response to receiving the high-resolution image, a low-resolution image corresponding to the high-resolution image to a second user mobile device;
receive a request to print the high-resolution image from the second user mobile device, the request comprising a selection of the low-resolution image as an identification of the high-resolution image and an identification of a print vendor;
associate an authentication token with the high-resolution image, the authentication token comprising a pointer to a cloud-based location of the high-resolution image;
send, in response to the request, the authentication token to the second user mobile device to provide to the print vendor;
receive the authentication token from the print vendor, the authentication provided to the print vendor from the second user mobile device; and
authenticate the print vendor based on the authentication token; and
provide the print vendor access to the high-resolution image in response to receiving the authentication token from the print vendor and authenticating the print vendor.

13. The system as recited in claim 12 , further comprising instructions that when that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to provide the print vendor access to the high-resolution image by:
transferring the high-resolution image to the cloud-based location in response to receiving the request to print the high-resolution image from the second user mobile device;
generating a uniform resource locator that indicates the location of the high-resolution image; and
sending the uniform resource locator as the authentication token to the second user mobile device to provide to the print vendor.

14. The system as recited in claim 12 , further comprising instructions that when that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
generate a low-resolution image from the high-resolution image received from the first user mobile device; and
send the low-resolution image to the first user mobile device and the second user mobile device.

15. A method of printing high-resolution images from devices without requiring the devices to upload the high-resolution images, comprising:
capturing, by a client device, a high-resolution image;
uploading the high-resolution image to one or more servers;
receiving, from the one or more servers, a low-resolution image corresponding to the high-resolution image stored by the one or more servers in response to uploading the high-resolution image;
identifying, by at least one processor of the client device, a selection of the low-resolution image, an identification of a print vendor, and an indication of one or more printing parameters;
receiving, from the one or more servers and in response to the selection of the low-resolution image, an authentication token associated with a location of the high-resolution image for authenticating with the one or more servers, the authentication token comprising a pointer to a cloud-based location of the high-resolution image;
sending, via a network, the authentication token to the prin

Assignees

• Adobe Systems Inc

Inventors

• Sinn Richard
• Voliter Robert Tyler

Classifications

• G06F3/1268

  Job submission, e.g. submitting print job order or request not the print data itself · CPC title

• G06F3/1204 Primary

  resulting in reduced user or operator actions, e.g. presetting, automatic actions, using hardware token storing data · CPC title

• G06F3/1288

  in client-server-printer device configuration · CPC title

• G06F3/1292

  Mobile client, e.g. wireless printing · CPC title