SYSTEM AND METHOD OF AUTOMATICALLY IDENTIFYING AND MARKING HYPERIMAGES WHEN DISPLAYED

1 . A method for indicating a HyperImage™, the method comprising:

evaluating metadata associated with the image;

determining that the image is a HyperImage™; and

indicating to a user that the image is a HyperImage™.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the HyperImage™ is indicated by displaying a feature with the image.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the displayed feature is at least one of a silhouette, a picture frame, a logo, a text descriptor, and a list of information materials related to the image.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the HyperImage™ is indicated by activating a file associated with the image.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the activated file is one of an audio file, a video file, a multimedia file, and a text file.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the evaluating, determining, and indicating is performed by execution of an applet.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining includes determining if the metadata contains a uniform resource locator (URL).

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the URL corresponds to a remote location on a wide area network.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining is initiated by an input from a user.

10 . A computer readable medium, containing computer readable instructions, that when executed by the computer causes the computer to perform a method comprising:

evaluating metadata associated with an image;

determining from the evaluated metadata that the image is a HyperImage™; and

indicating to a user that the image is a HyperImage™.

11 . The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the evaluating includes inspecting predetermined fields of the metadata.

12 . The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the determining includes determining if a predetermined field of the metadata contains a uniform resource locator (URL).

13 . The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the indicating includes displaying at least one of a silhouette, a frame, an icon, a logo and a text descriptor.

14 . The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the indicating includes activating at least one of an audio file, a video file, a multimedia file, and a text file.

15 . The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the computer readable instructions are obtained over the Internet.

16 . An apparatus for processing metadata of an image, the apparatus comprising:

a memory, the memory storing the metadata in a location associated with the image; and

a processor in communication with the memory, the processor:

examining the metadata;

determining from the metadata that the image is a HyperImage™; and

indicating to a user that the image is a Hyperimage™.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the indicating includes displaying at least some of the metadata.

18 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the processor alters a display associated with the HyperImage™ when a cursor is passed over the image.

19 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the apparatus performs an action in response to activation of the Hyperimage™, the action being pre-specified.

20 . The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the pre-specified action is stored locally on a computer of a user.