KODAK PROFESSIONAL PHOTO CD IMAGE LIBRARY DELIVERS COST-EFFECTIVE IMAGE STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL First, a New Way to Look at Pictures; Now, a New Way to Store and Retrieve Them NEW YORK, Aug. 25_The technology that made it possible to store dozens of 35 mm photos on a compact disc will also enable users to archive thousands of pictures. The Kodak Professional Photo CD Image Library system offers on-line retrieval of any single image in a matter of seconds. The Kodak Professional Photo CD Image Library system stores images in an automated disc library, or "jukebox," that can hold as many as 100 Photo CD discs. Using special Kodak software, an operator can use key words to search the library; view low-resolution "thumbnails" of images that fit the search criteria; and select those images to be viewed, edited, or printed at full resolution. The system is designed to meet the needs of stock photography agencies, medical and industrial photographers, government agencies, museums, libraries, and Fortune 500 companies. Currently, most of these organizations maintain exhaustive files of pictures in hard copy form, which makes referencing extremely difficult. The library can accept any of the five Photo CD disc formats. The final capacity of the jukebox depends on what Photo CD format discs are chosen. For example, the jukebox can hold 2,500 4 x 5-inch film images on Kodak Pro Photo CD Master discs, 10,000 35 mm images on standard Kodak Photo CD Master discs, or hundreds of thousands on Kodak Photo CD Catalog discs. "Managing images is far more difficult for commercial enterprises than for consumers," said Kodak's David P. Biehn, vice president and general manager, Professional Imaging. "Instead of a shoe box in the back of the closet or photo albums, large organizations have file after file filled with pictures. Knowing what they have and finding what they need are monumental tasks. "The Kodak Professional Photo CD Image Library will help them organize their images and access them faster." How It Works An image library system consists of a Kodak Photo CD jukebox connected to a desktop computer. Kodak image search and retrieval software handles the image management function. The use of image search and retrieval software means that the image library will share a common interface with stand-alone image databases running software and with the Kodak Picture Exchange, the company's new telephone dial-up image services network. "We want to provide a consistent look and feel throughout our image management applications_from the smallest to the largest," Biehn noted. Film is scanned and images are written to a Kodak Photo CD Master or Kodak Pro Photo CD Master disc to begin the process of configuring an image library. The disc is prepared the same way it always is; no special formatting is required. At a desktop computer, an operator subsequently "characterizes" each Photo CD image with appropriate key words describing the picture's attributes (such as "photographer" and "film type") and content (such as "landscape" or "dog"). A thumbnail from the Photo CD disc and its descriptive information are then added to the image library database on the computer's hard drive. To search for an image, the operator sorts through the database using conventional database commands, viewing "hits" in thumbnail form. Once the operator selects an image for closer inspection, the software automatically locates it on the appropriate Photo CD disc stored in the attached jukebox. A higher-resolution version of the image is read from the disc within a few seconds, after which it can be viewed, exported to another software program, or output to a peripheral, such as a printer. "This is truly the first image database system that lets users manage pictures as quickly and conveniently as today's database systems manage text," Biehn said. In the future, larger-format media and networked systems can make possible image libraries that store millions of images, he noted. The Kodak Professional Photo CD Image Library will be available next year. Those wishing more information may call the Kodak Information Center at 1-800-242-2424, ext. 77. ### [Kodak is a trademark.]