PictSync Develops Guidelines for Easy Photo Sharing Between Cameras, Phones and Portable Media Players22 February 2006
Epson, HP, IDS, Olympus, PortalPlayer andSamsung, working together as the PictSync Promoters Group, announced todaythat they have jointly developed guidelines to increase interoperabilitybetween digital cameras, camera phones and portable media players. Theguidelines, dubbed PictSync™, will enable the easy transfer of digitalphotos between two portable devices that are able to capture or storeimages, without requiring a personal computer. A licensing program isunder development to allow for broad industry adoption of the PictSyncguidelines.
Companies interested in PictSync or who wish to review and comment on thepre-released guidelines (version 0.95) can have limited access to thedocument. Representatives from the PictSync Consortium will be available onFebruary 27, 2006 at the Photo Marketing Association International show inOrlando, Florida to discuss the PictSync guidelines. Interested parties maycontact the PictSync Facilitator to make an appointment. The purpose ofthis pre-release is to get industry feedback and study the potential marketimpact of PictSync. Interested companies can review the pre-release versionby downloading it from PictSync.org or contacting Felix Nemirovsky,PictSync Facilitator.
"An outline of the PictSync Guideline and Licensing program has beenintroduced to members of the PictBridge(1) development group. We thinkPictSync is very Synergetic to PictBridge and expect it will provideextended interoperability to PictBridge capable devices," said Koji Abe,General Manager of Inkjet Division, Canon Japan.
Release of version 1.0 and the logo certification program is expected to beannounced by the end of Q1 2006. The six companies that comprise thePictSync Promoters Group are collaborating on these guidelines to addressthe current lack of interoperability and compatibility between imagecapture devices and consumer electronic playback devices.
"Today, it can be difficult for the average consumer to transfer an imagefrom a camera phone or digital camera to a personal media player withoutfirst transferring the image to a PC. Even then, it may not be possiblebecause data structures, transfer protocols and synchronization policiesare not followed consistently by all manufacturers," said Nemirovsky."Clearly defined interoperability guidelines using existing industrystandards such as MPV, DCF, MSC, PTP and others will enable fast, easy andconsistent sharing or archiving of digital photo in portable media playersand other non-PC devices."
Through use of existing industry standards, the PictSync Promoters Groupplans to document and publish compatibility guidelines, provide a testingmethodology and logo certification program, which ultimately will provideconsumers with the ability to connect compliant capture devices andcompliant playback devices successfully. PictSync will enable compliantdevices to successfully recognize all photo content along with allmetadata. PictSync enabled devices will also transfer and/or synchronizeall photo content and metadata from compliant capture devices to compliantplayback devices.
Initially, two classes of device have been defined: a PictSync device,capable of serving as a USB host, and PictSource, a USB device. Inaddition, five primary usage models for PictSync interoperability have beendefined, as listed below. The base use case for each is to connect twodevices together and synchronize their contents.
1. PictSync Device connected to a digital camera2. PictSync Device connected to a camera phone3. PictSync Device connected to another PictSync Device like a Personal Media Player (PMP)/USB storage device4. Memory Card inserted in a PictSync Device5. PictSync/PictSource Device connected to a PC using MPV-enabled software
PictSync connectivity between compatible devices is contemplated at thistime for two specific physical interfaces, USB and memory card interfaces.However, there are no inherent designs or protocol components in PictSync,which would restrict connectivity to these physical interfaces. Forexample, in the future, a digital camera could connect to a personal mediaplayer through Bluetooth, WUSB, IrDA and other wireless data transfermethods.
Existing industry standards utilized in the PictSync InteroperabilityGuidelines include Design rule for Camera File System (DCF)(2);Exchangeable Image File format (Exif)(3); JPEG; TIFF; Media Storage Device(MSD)(4), a specification that defines how a device behaves on a USB bus;MusicPhotoVideo (MPV)(5), a metadata exchange specification developed bythe Optical Storage Technology Association; Media Transfer Protocol(MTP)(6), a new protocol designed for portable media devices; PictureTransfer Protocol (PTP)(7), defined by the Photo Industry MarketingAssociation and soon to be released by ISO; and WIA(8), a PTPimplementation by Microsoft.
The PictSync member companies encourage OEMs, ODMs and component suppliersthat are building products that directly or indirectly capture, store ormanage digital photos to participate in this initiative. Please considerreviewing the pre-release version of the PictSync Guidelines, providingfeedback prior to final release of PictSync v1.0 document, or co-sponsoringor participating in an upcoming PictSync Plugfest. The first open PictSyncPlugfest is tentatively planned for Q2, 2006 in San Francisco.
For further information, including an executive overview of the PictSyncInteroperability Guidelines and the information on how to obtain thepre-release version for review, please visit the PictSync website atwww.pictsync.org. To set up a meeting during PMA or at any time, pleasecontact PictSync Facilitator Felix Nemirovsky at felix@chubaconsulting.comor (415) 643-0944.
(1) PictBridge is the CIPA standard for connecting digital imaging deviceand printer http://www.cipa.jp/pictbridge/index_e.html
(2) DCF, a JEITA standard developed in 1998. http://www.jeita.or.jp
(3) Exif, a JEITA standard developed in 1998, information available athttp://www.jeita.or.jp andhttp://www.exif.org/specifications.html
(4) MSD, specification available athttp://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs
(5) MPV, specification available athttp://www.osta.org/mpv/public/index.htm
(6) MTP, reference materials can be found athttp://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwmt/html/mtp_spec.asp
(7) PTP, ISO-15740 (PTP) "Picture Transfer Protocol Specification"http://www.iso.org/
(8) WIA reference materials may be found athttp://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/stillimage/stillimg-connect.mspx
SOURCE: PictSync Promoters Group
Source: marketwire
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