Portable communication devices transmit digital images and their location information to a central server. If a particular location is often photographed it can be designated as a hot spot. Thereafter, if a communication device is currently transmitting from within a vicinity of the hot spot, based on the location data received from the communication device, notification data can be transmitted to the communication device for notifying the user of the hot spot. The notification data can include directional information for the user to access on the communication device for enabling the user to find the hot spot.

A scan task system includes a plurality of imaging devices, including MFDs, dedicated scanners, or mobile phones with scanning or camera functions. The system notifies a user or a number of users when a particular document needs to be scanned and transmitted to a specific destination. A scan task is sent to available imaging devices, and will appear when the user logs in at any imaging device on the network. When a user executes the scan task at any one of the imaging devices, the scan task is removed from all devices. The scan task can be pre-programmed to appropriately file or send a scanned document when the scan is executed.

This disclosure is directed to systems and methods for the delivery and maintenance of faxes where the faxes may remain at a faxing system for a minimal amount of time. The faxing system may send a queued fax to a connector responsive to a request from the connector to pull or retrieve a fax. The connector is configured to send a release notification to the faxing system after the fax is received. The faxing system is configured to delete the queued fax as soon as confirmation of the delivery of the fax can be determined or when an expiration time has elapsed.

Automated sharing of digital images is described. In example implementations, a computing device, such as a smart phone, captures a digital image depicting multiple faces of multiple persons included in the digital image. The computing device is capable of automatically distributing a copy of the digital image to the subjects of the digital image. To do so, a digital image sharing module determines a person identifier using facial detection and recognition. The person identifier, which can be derived from facial characteristics, is used to search a contact information database and find a matching entry. The matching entry includes contact information associated with the person in the digital image. The sharing module transmits a copy of the digital image to the person using the contact information. The digital image sharing module can also display a sharing status indicator indicative of whether the digital image can be, or has been, transmitted automatically.

In the image processing apparatus, the image processing method, and the recording medium of the invention, an image analysis unit analyzes the contents of each of a plurality of images acquired by an image acquisition unit, and an evaluation value calculation unit calculates an analysis evaluation value of each image based on the analysis result of each image. A group forming unit forms one or more groups, each of which includes a plurality of similar images, by specifying similar images among the plurality of images. The evaluation value calculation unit calculates an overall evaluation value by adding a value to an analysis evaluation value of each of the plurality of similar images based on evaluation information, which indicates high evaluation for the plurality of similar images, for each of the groups.

The present disclosure relates to user-selected metadata related to images captured by a camera of a client device. User-selected metadata may include contextual information and/or information provided by a user when the images are captured. In various implementations, a free form input may be received at a first client device of one or more client devices operated by a user. A task request may be recognized from the free form input, and it may be determined that the task request includes a request to store metadata related to one or more images captured by a camera of the first client device. The metadata may be selected based on content of the task request. The metadata may then be stored, e.g., in association with one or more images captured by the camera, in computer-readable media. The computer-readable media may be searchable by the metadata.

This disclosure is directed to systems and methods for the delivery and maintenance of faxes where the faxes may remain at a faxing system for a minimal amount of time. The faxing system may send a queued fax to a connector responsive to a request from the connector to pull or retrieve a fax. The connector is configured to send a release notification to the faxing system after the fax is received. The faxing system is configured to delete the queued fax as soon as confirmation of the delivery of the fax can be determined or when an expiration time has elapsed.

In the image processing apparatus, the image processing method, and the recording medium of the invention, an image analysis unit analyzes the contents of each of a plurality of images acquired by an image acquisition unit, and an evaluation value calculation unit calculates an analysis evaluation value of each image based on the analysis result of each image. A group forming unit forms one or more groups, each of which includes a plurality of similar images, by specifying similar images among the plurality of images. The evaluation value calculation unit calculates an overall evaluation value by adding a value to an analysis evaluation value of each of the plurality of similar images based on evaluation information, which indicates high evaluation for the plurality of similar images, for each of the groups.

An image forming apparatus includes at least a processor and at least a memory coupled to the at least the processor and having stored thereon instructions, when executed by the at least the processor, and cooperating to act as: an identifying unit configured to identify, when data is manipulated in a storage section, the storage section in which the data has been manipulated, from among a plurality of storage sections, an acquirer configured to acquire information indicating a notification destination corresponding to the storage section identified by the identifying unit, based on setting information in which a notification destination is set for each of the storage sections, and a transmitter configured to transmit, to the notification destination indicated by the information acquired by the acquirer, notification information indicating that the data has been manipulated.

A computing device initiates a linked capture session to enable automatic image sharing by multiple users and devices. The linked capture session is a group of devices that automatically share captured images during the linked capture session. The linked capture session may be initiated based on a location, a group of people, and/or a time duration. The images captured by devices that are connected in the linked capture session are automatically communicated to a remote storage system that allows all users to access the images through devices connected to the linked capture session.