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1992-11-16
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KODAK PROFESSIONAL PHOTO CD IMAGE LIBRARY DELIVERS
COST-EFFECTIVE IMAGE STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
First, a New Way to Look at Pictures;
Now, a New Way to Store and Retrieve Them
NEW YORK, Aug. 25_The technology that made it possible to
store dozens of
35 mm photos on a compact disc will also enable users to archive
thousands of pictures. The Kodak Professional Photo CD Image
Library system offers on-line retrieval of any single image in a
matter of seconds.
The Kodak Professional Photo CD Image Library system stores
images in an automated disc library, or "jukebox," that can hold
as many as 100 Photo CD discs. Using special Kodak software, an
operator can use key words to search the library; view
low-resolution "thumbnails" of images that fit the search
criteria; and select those images to be viewed, edited, or
printed at full resolution.
The system is designed to meet the needs of stock photography
agencies, medical and industrial photographers, government
agencies, museums, libraries, and Fortune 500 companies.
Currently, most of these organizations maintain exhaustive files
of pictures in hard copy form, which makes referencing extremely
difficult.
The library can accept any of the five Photo CD disc formats.
The final capacity of the jukebox depends on what Photo CD format
discs are chosen. For example, the jukebox can hold 2,500 4 x
5-inch film images on Kodak Pro Photo CD Master discs, 10,000 35
mm images on standard Kodak Photo CD Master discs, or hundreds of
thousands on Kodak Photo CD Catalog discs.
"Managing images is far more difficult for commercial
enterprises than for consumers," said Kodak's David P. Biehn,
vice president and general manager, Professional Imaging.
"Instead of a shoe box in the back of the closet or photo albums,
large organizations have file after file filled with pictures.
Knowing what they have and finding what they need are monumental
tasks.
"The Kodak Professional Photo CD Image Library will help them
organize their images and access them faster."
How It Works
An image library system consists of a Kodak Photo CD jukebox
connected to a desktop computer. Kodak image search and
retrieval software handles the image management function.
The use of image search and retrieval software means that the
image library will share a common interface with stand-alone
image databases running software and with the Kodak Picture
Exchange, the company's new telephone dial-up image services
network. "We want to provide a consistent look and feel
throughout our image management applications_from the smallest to
the largest," Biehn noted.
Film is scanned and images are written to a Kodak Photo CD
Master or Kodak Pro Photo CD Master disc to begin the process of
configuring an image library. The disc is prepared the same way
it always is; no special formatting is required.
At a desktop computer, an operator subsequently
"characterizes" each Photo CD image with appropriate key words
describing the picture's attributes (such as "photographer" and
"film type") and content (such as "landscape" or "dog"). A
thumbnail from the Photo CD disc and its descriptive information
are then added to the image library database on the computer's
hard drive.
To search for an image, the operator sorts through the
database using conventional database commands, viewing "hits" in
thumbnail form. Once the operator selects an image for closer
inspection, the software automatically locates it on the
appropriate Photo CD disc stored in the attached jukebox.
A higher-resolution version of the image is read from the disc
within a few seconds, after which it can be viewed, exported to
another software program, or output to a peripheral, such as a
printer.
"This is truly the first image database system that lets users
manage pictures as quickly and conveniently as today's database
systems manage text," Biehn said.
In the future, larger-format media and networked systems can
make possible image libraries that store millions of images, he
noted.
The Kodak Professional Photo CD Image Library will be
available next year. Those wishing more information may call the
Kodak Information Center at 1-800-242-2424, ext. 77.
###
[Kodak is a trademark.]