Portable information terminal and image management program

1. A portable information terminal comprising:

a display part which has a screen for displaying images;

an in-focus value computing part which computes in-focus values from an original image that has been previously captured by dividing the original image into a plurality of divided areas and computing an in-focus value for each of the plurality of divided areas;

an image cutting part which cuts a thumbnail image from the original image based on the in-focus values computed by the in-focus value computing part, by comparing the in-focus value for each of the plurality of divided areas with a predetermined threshold based on an in-focus value distribution, detecting an area having an in-focus value exceeding the predetermined threshold as an in-focus area, and cutting an image in a predetermined size including the in-focus area out of the original image to set it as the thumbnail image;

a data storage part which stores data of the thumbnail image cut at the image cutting part; and

a control part which reads the data of the thumbnail image stored in the data storage part for display on the screen.

2. The portable information terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the image cutting part detects an area having a maximum in-focus value as the in-focus area.

3. The portable information terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the image cutting part detects a plurality of in-focus areas in the original image, and selects the in-focus area to be set as the thumbnail image based upon criteria other than the in-focus value.

4. The portable information terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the image cutting part detects a plurality of in-focus areas in the original image, and selects the in-focus area that is closest to the center of the original image to be set as the thumbnail image.

5. The portable information terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the original image is received from an outside source and stored in the data storage part prior to computing the in-focus value for each of the plurality of divided areas.

6. The portable information terminal according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of divided areas are of equal size.

7. The portable information terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the in-focus value computing part computes the in-focus value by modified Laplacian computation.

8. A computer program product for cutting thumbnail images for display on a screen of a display unit, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing program code that is executable to provide operations comprising:

computing in-focus values from an original image that has been previously captured by dividing the original image into a plurality of divided areas and computing an in-focus value for each of the plurality of divided areas;

cutting a thumbnail image from the original image based on the computed in-focus values, by comparing the in-focus value for each of the plurality of divided areas with a predetermined threshold based on an in-focus value distribution, detecting an area having an in-focus value exceeding the predetermined threshold as an in-focus area, and cutting an image in a predetermined size including the in-focus area out of the original image to set it as the thumbnail image;

storing data of the thumbnail image cut at the image cutting part; and

reading the stored data of the thumbnail image for display on the screen.

9. The computer program product according to claim 8 , wherein cutting the thumbnail image comprises detecting an area having a maximum in-focus value as the in-focus area.

10. The computer program product according to claim 8 , wherein cutting the thumbnail image comprises detecting a plurality of in-focus areas in the original image, and selecting the in-focus area to be set as the thumbnail image based upon criteria other than the in-focus value.

11. The computer program product according to claim 8 , wherein cutting the thumbnail image comprises detecting a plurality of in-focus areas in the original image, and selecting the in-focus area that is closest to the center of the original image to be set as the thumbnail image.

12. The computer program product according to claim 8 , wherein the original image is received from an outside source and is stored in memory prior to computing the in-focus value for each of the plurality of divided areas.

13. The computer program product according to claim 8 , wherein each of the plurality of divided areas are of equal size.

14. The computer program product according to claim 8 , wherein computing the in-focus values comprises computing by modified Laplacian computation.

15. A method for cutting thumbnail images for display on a screen of a display unit, the method comprising:

computing in-focus values from an original image that has been previously captured by dividing the original image into a plurality of divided areas and computing an in-focus value for each of the plurality of divided areas;

cutting a thumbnail image from the original image based on the computed in-focus values, by comparing the in-focus value for each of the plurality of divided areas with a predetermined threshold based on an in-focus value distribution, detecting an area having an in-focus value exceeding the predetermined threshold as an in-focus area, and cutting an image in a predetermined size including the in-focus area out of the original image to set it as the thumbnail image;

storing data of the thumbnail image cut at the image cutting part; and

reading the stored data of the thumbnail image for display on the screen.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein cutting the thumbnail image comprises detecting an area having a maximum in-focus value as the in-focus area.

17. The method according to claim 15 , wherein cutting the thumbnail image comprises detecting a plurality of in-focus areas in the original image, and selecting the in-focus area to be set as the thumbnail image based upon criteria other than the in-focus value.

18. The method according to claim 15 , wherein cutting the thumbnail image comprises detecting a plurality of in-focus areas in the original image, and selecting the in-focus area that is closest to the center of the original image to be set as the thumbnail image.

19. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the original image is received from an outside source and is stored in memory prior to computing the in-focus value for each of the plurality of divided areas.

20. The method according to claim 15 , wherein each of the plurality of divided areas are of equal size.

21. The method according to claim 15 , wherein computing the in-focus values comprises computing by modified Laplacian computation.