IMAGE RANKING FOR IMAGING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

1 - 40 . (canceled)

41 . A system for preparing for an image use, comprising:

a computer storage device configured to store digital images and image uses; and

a computer processor configured to obtain one or more image characteristics for each of the digital images, to compute an image-ranking value for one of the digital images and for one of the image uses using the one or more image characteristics associated with the digital image, and for each of the image uses, to sort the digital images in accordance with their respective image-ranking values.

42 . The system of claim 41 , wherein the computer processor is configured to define a vector in a multi-dimensional space based on the one or more image characteristics obtained from one of the digital images and to compute the image-ranking value associated with one of the digital images using a predetermined function of the vector.

43 . The system of claim 41 , wherein the computer processor is configured to rank the digital images in accordance with their respective image-ranking values for each of the image uses.

44 . The system of claim 41 , wherein the computer processor is configured to select at least one of the digital images for at least one of the image uses in accordance with the image-ranking values.

45 . The system of claim 41 , wherein the computer processor is configured to determine if one of the digital images is suitable for one of the image uses by comparing the image-ranking value associated with one of the digital images for the image use to a predetermined criterion.

46 . The system of claim 41 , wherein the computer processor is configured to receive an inquiry about suitable images for one for the image uses and to recommend at least one of the digital images for the one of the image uses in accordance with the image-ranking values.

47 . The system of claim 41 , wherein the computer storage device is configured to store the image-ranking values as keywords in association with the respective digital images, wherein the computer processor is configured to identify digital images for one of the image uses by searching one or more the keywords.

48 . The system of claim 41 , wherein the image uses are selected from the group consisting of photographic prints, electronic image sharing, photo cards, photo calendars, photo album, and photo books.

49 . The system of claim 41 , wherein the image uses comprise an image-based physical product or an imaging service.

50 . The system of claim 41 , wherein the image characteristics comprise one or more of image size, color, exposure condition, pixel value histogram distribution, and the header information of an image file.

51 . The system of claim 41 , wherein the computer processor is configured to render the digital images in accordance with their image-ranking values.

52 . A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer readable program code functions embedded in said medium for causing a computer to:

receive digital images;

obtain one or more image characteristics for each of the digital images;

compute an image-ranking value using the one or more image characteristics for each of the digital images for each of the image uses; and

rank the digital images for each of the image uses using the image-ranking values associated with the digital images.

53 . The computer program product of claim 52 , wherein the computer readable program code functions are configured to cause the computer to select at least one of the digital images for at least one of the image uses in accordance with the image-ranking values.

54 . The computer program product of claim 52 , wherein the computer readable program code functions are configured to cause the computer to determine if one of the digital images is suitable for one of the image uses by comparing the image-ranking value associated with one of the digital images for the image use to a predetermined criterion.

55 . The computer program product of claim 52 , wherein the computer readable program code functions are configured to define a vector in a multi-dimensional space based on the one or more image characteristics obtained from one of the digital images and to compute the image-ranking value associated with one of the digital images using a predetermined function of the vector.

56 . The computer program product of claim 52 , wherein the image uses are selected from the group consisting of photographic prints, electronic image sharing, photo cards, photo calendars, photo album, and photo books.

57 . The computer program product of claim 52 , wherein the image characteristics comprise one or more of image size, color, exposure condition, pixel value histogram distribution, and the header information of an image file.

58 . A computer-assisted method, comprising:

receiving digital images for a plurality of image uses;

obtaining one or more image characteristics for each of the digital images;

for one of the image uses, computing an image-ranking value for one of the digital images using the one or more image characteristics associated with the digital image, wherein the image-ranking value is specific to each of the image uses; and

ranking the digital images using their respective image-ranking values for one of the image uses.

59 . The method of claim 58 , further comprising determining if one of the digital images is suitable for one of the image uses by comparing the image-ranking value associated with one of the digital images for the image use to a predetermined criterion.

60 . The method of claim 58 , wherein the image uses are selected from the group consisting of photographic prints, electronic image sharing, photo cards, photo calendars, photo album, and photo books.