System and method for printing and scanning a user-completed digital still camera image proof sheet and order form

Abstract

A digital still camera is used for taking and storing digital representations of a plurality of images. A printer, such as an ink jet printer or a laser printer, is used for generating graphical representations of selected ones of the plurality of images on a preselected print media such as a paper. A flash memory card, floppy diskette, direct data link or some other data transfer scheme is used to transfer the digital representations of the plurality of images from the digital still camera to the printer. The printer includes programming for generating a combination proof sheet and order form. The combination proof sheet and order form can include an array of thumbnail images and a plurality of image selection and/or image enhancement user designation areas such as bubbles to be filled in by the user with a pencil. The printer includes a scanner and related circuitry and software for scanning the combination proof sheet and order form to detect the user designation areas completed by the user. The programming in the printer thereafter causes it to generate at least one final print sheet with the images and enhancements designated by the user on the combination proof sheet and order form. The proof sheet and order form can be used to designate the number of final prints of a selected image, the size and/or cropping of the prints, the brightness, color balance, background, borders and so forth.

We claim:  
     
         1 . A system for enabling a user to select and print digitally stored images, comprising: 
 a digital still camera for taking and storing digital representations of a plurality of images;    a printer for generating graphical representations of selected ones of the plurality of images on a preselected print media;    means for transferring the digital representations of the plurality of images from the digital still camera to the printer; and    the printer including means for generating a combination proof sheet and order form including a graphical representation of at least one of the images and a plurality of user designation areas, means for detecting the user designation areas on the combination proof sheet and order form completed by the user, and means for generating at least one final print sheet in accordance with the user designation areas completed by the user on the combination proof sheet and order form.    
     
     
         2 . The system of    claim 1    wherein the printer is selected from the group consistng of a laser printer, an ink jet printer, a dot matrix printer, a dye sublimation printer and a thermal printer.  
     
     
         3 . The system of    claim 1    wherein the combination proof sheet and order form includes an array of thumbnail images.  
     
     
         4 . The system of    claim 1    wherein the combination proof sheet and order form includes user designation areas to be completed by the user in the form of locations to be marked by the user with a marking implement.  
     
     
         5 . The system of    claim 4    wherein the means for detecting the user designation areas completed by the user includes an optical scanner for detecting locations on the combination proof sheet and order form that have been marked by the user with the marking implement.  
     
     
         6 . The system of    claim 3    wherein the combination proof sheet and order form includes a plurality of user designation areas adjacent each of the thumbnail images for designating enhancements selected from the group consisting of image size and image quantity.  
     
     
         7 . The system according to    claim 1    wherein the user designation areas are selected from the group consisting of image selection, image cropping, print size, print quantity and image brightness.  
     
     
         8 . The system according to    claim 1    wherein the means for transferring the digital representations of the plurality of images from the digital still camera to the printer is selected from the group consisting of a flash memory card, a floppy diskette, a direct data link and a wireless data link.  
     
     
         9 . The system according to    claim 1    wherein the printer further includes means for generating a custom proof sheet and order form having at least one graphically represented image and user designation areas along two adjacent side edges of the image to permit the user to indicate cropping of the image.  
     
     
         10 . The system according to    claim 1    wherein the printer further includes means for generating an album form including user designation areas for selecting from a plurality of different image borders.  
     
     
         11 . A method for enabling a user to select and print digitally stored images, comprising the steps of: 
 taking and storing digital still representations of a plurality of images;    transferring the digital still representations of the plurality of images to a printer capable of generating graphical representations of selected ones of the plurality of images on a preselected print media;    generating with the printer a combination proof sheet and order form including a graphical representation of at least one of the images and a plurality of image selection and/or image enhancement user designation areas;    completing at least one of the user designation areas on the combination proof sheet and order form;    re-inserting the completed proof sheet and order form back into the printer and using the printer to read the combination proof sheet and order form to determine the user designation areas completed by the user; and    generating with the printer at least one final print sheet with the images and enhancements designated by the user on the combination proof sheet and order form.    
     
     
         12 . The method of    claim 11    and further comprising the steps of generating an identity marker on the combination proof sheet and order form uniquely associated with the digital representations of the plurality of images and using the printer to read the identity marker and confirm a match with the digital representations, before generating at least one final print sheet.  
     
     
         13 . The method of    claim 11    wherein the combination proof sheet and order form includes an array of thumbnail images.  
     
     
         14 . The method of    claim 11    wherein the combination proof sheet and order form includes user designation areas completed by the user in the form of locations that are marked by the user with a marking implement.  
     
     
         15 . The method of    claim 14    wherein the user designation areas completed by the user are read with an optical scanner for detecting locations on the combination proof sheet and order form that have been marked by the user with the marking implement.  
     
     
         16 . The method of    claim 13    wherein the combination proof sheet and order form includes a plurality of user designation areas adjacent each of the thumbnail images selected from the group consisting of image size and image quantity.  
     
     
         17 . The method according to    claim 11    wherein the user designation areas are selected from the group consisting of cropping, print size, print quantity and brightness.  
     
     
         18 . The method according to    claim 11    and further comprising the step of generating at least one custom proof sheet and order form with user designation areas for cropping a selected image.  
     
     
         19 . The method according to    claim 11    wherein the user designation areas comprise bounded regions to be marked by a user with a marking implement.  
     
     
         20 . A combination proof sheet and order form for use with a printer in selecting and printing digitally stored images, comprising: 
 a single sheet of print media having printed thereon an array of graphical representations of a plurality of digitally stored images and a plurality of user designation areas adjacent each of the images of the array to be completed by a user in the form of discrete locations to be filled in by the user with a marking implement for subsequent scanning and detection in generating final print sheets in accordance with the user designation areas completed by the user, the user designation areas adjacent each of the images of the array selected from the group consisting of image selection, image size and image quantity.