Saving device for image sharing, image sharing system, and image sharing method

1. A saving device for image sharing in which images uploaded by a sharer of said images for image sharing are saved and accessibly shared in a sharer's album form among at least one sharee, comprising:

sharee layout storing means configured to store first layout information of a sharee's album;

shared page determining means configured to determine a shared page to be shared in said sharee's album from said sharer's album;

layout changing means configured to automatically change a layout of said shared page based on said first layout information of said at least one sharee; and

shared page notifying means configured to notify said at least one sharee that the number of said shared page was created.

2. The saving device for image sharing according to claim 1 , further comprising:

sharer layout storing means configured to store second layout information of said sharer's album; and

inherited information storing means configured to store types of layout information to be inherited by said shared page from among said second layout information stored by said sharer layout storing means,

wherein said layout changing means further automatically changes the layout of said shared page based on said second layout information of said sharer and said inherited information.

3. The saving device for image sharing according to claim 1 , further comprising sharing information storing means configured to store information related to said shared page subjected to a layout change by said layout changing means, as sharing information for each shared page.

4. The saving device for image sharing according to claim 3 , wherein said sharing information includes sharer information and photographed date and time of an image laid out in said shared page.

5. The saving device for image sharing according to claim 1 , wherein said saving device for image sharing is an image sharing server in which said images uploaded by said sharer can be saved and accessibly shared among said at least one sharee.

6. The saving device for image sharing according to claim 1 , further comprising:

shared image information collecting means configured to collect information on said images to be shared;

sharee information collecting means configured to collect information on said at least one sharee;

sharing information extracting means configured to extract, from the information on said images to be shared that is collected by said shared image information collecting means and the information on said at least one sharee that is collected by said sharee information collecting means, information concerning said images to be shared in which said at least one sharee has interest as sharing information specific to said at least one sharee; and

sharing information notifying means configured to notify said at least one sharee of said sharing information extracted by said sharing information extracting means.

7. An image sharing system in which a sharer of images offers said images for image sharing so that said images are accessibly shared among at least one sharee, comprising:

the saving device for image sharing according to claim 1 ; and

a terminal of said at least one sharee that accesses images shared on said saving device for image sharing.

8. The image sharing system according to claim 7 , further comprising:

a terminal of said sharer that saves and uploads onto said saving device for image sharing said images; and

a network on which said saving device for image sharing is disposed,

wherein the terminal of said sharer and the terminal of said at least one sharee are connected with said saving device for image sharing through the network.

9. An image sharing method in which images offered by a sharer of said images for image sharing are saved and accessibly shared in a sharer's album form among at least one sharee in a saving device for image sharing, comprising:

storing in advance first layout information of a sharee's album;

determining a shared page to be shared in said sharee's album from said sharer's album; and

changing automatically a layout of said shared page based on said first layout information of said at least one sharee;

notifying said at least one sharee that the number of said shared page was created.

10. The image sharing method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

storing in advance second layout information of said sharer's album and inherited information which includes types of layout information to be inherited by said shared page as selected from said second layout information of the sharer's album; and

changing automatically the layout of said shared page based on said second layout information of said sharer and said inherited information.

11. The image sharing method according to claim 9 , further comprising a step of storing information related to said shared page subjected to a layout change as sharing information for each shared page.

12. The image sharing method according to claim 11 , wherein said sharing information includes sharer information and photographed date and time of an image laid out in said shared page.

13. The image sharing method according to claim 9 , wherein said saving device for image sharing is an image sharing server disposed on a network, in which said images uploaded by said sharer can be saved and accessibly shared among said at least one sharee.

14. The image sharing method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

collecting information on said images to be shared;

collecting information on said at least one sharee;

extracting, from the collected information on said images to be shared and the collected information on said at least one sharee, information concerning said images to be shared in which said at least one sharee has interest as sharing information specific to said at least one sharee; and

notifying said at least one sharee of said sharing information as extracted.

15. The saving device for image sharing according to claim 1 , further comprising:

image acquiring means configured to acquire image data of said images uploaded; and

subject assessing means configured to subject each of said images received from said image acquiring means to face extraction processing, and assess face-extracted images as images including a person as the subject;

sharee information storing means configured to be a database that stores information of said at least one sharee;

subject identifying means configured to perform face recognition processing on said images assessed as including a person received from said subject assessing means, and identify and classify person subjects into groups per person subject by using said information of said at least one sharee;

image associating means configured to associate images assessed as not including a person by said subject assessing means with said images assessed as including a person;

sharing rule storing means configured to store sharing rules registered as conditions for image sharing in advance by said sharer to assess whether or not an image can be shared with said at least one sharee; and

shared image determining means configured to determine an image to be shared with said at least one sharee from among said images classified into groups per person subject by said subject identifying means and said image associating means.