Systems and methods for generating digital images having image meta-data combined with the image data

• US 20030081145A1
• Filed: 10/30/2001
• Published: 05/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Thompson, Robert D., Seaman, Mark D., Brake, Gregory A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,929,808 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/460
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32128 attached to the image data, e.g. file header, transmitted message header, information on the same page or in the same computer file as the image for information embedded in the image H04N1/32144
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3277 The additional information being stored in the same storage device as the image data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

Systems and methods for generating digital images having image meta-data combined with the image data are provided. Briefly described, one of many possible embodiments is an image capture device for generating digital images having image meta-data combined with the image data.. The image capture device may comprise image capture hardware configured to capture an image and logic configured for: generating a digital representation of the image, the digital representation comprising image data; applying at least one predefined image analysis algorithm to the digital representation of the image, the at least one predefined image analysis algorithm identifying meta-data corresponding to the image; and combining the meta-data corresponding to the image with the image data to define new image data.

Claims

1. A computer data signal embodied in a propagation medium, comprising:

a code segment comprising information corresponding to a digital representation of an image; and

a code segment comprising information corresponding to image meta-data associated with the image and identified by applying a predefined image analysis algorithm to the digital representation of the image.

2. The computer data signal of claim 1, wherein the image meta-data comprises at least one searchable keyword.

3. The computer data signal of claim 1, wherein the predefined image analysis algorithm comprises a face recognition vector algorithm.

4. An image file embodied in a computer-readable medium, comprising:

a code segment comprising information corresponding to a digital representation of an image; and

a code segment comprising information corresponding to image meta-data associated with the image and identified by applying a predefined image analysis algorithm to the digital representation of the image.

5. The image file of claim 4, wherein the image meta-data comprises at least one searchable keyword.

6. The image file of claim 4, wherein the predefined image analysis algorithm comprises a face recognition vector algorithm.

7. An image capture device, comprising:

image capture hardware configured to capture an image; and

logic configured for;

generating a digital representation of the image, the digital representation comprising image data;

applying at least one predefined image analysis algorithm to the digital representation of the image, the at least one predefined image analysis algorithm identifying meta-data corresponding to the image; and

combining the meta-data corresponding to the image with the image data to define new image data.

8. The image capture device of claim 7, wherein the logic is software and further comprising a processing device for implementing the logic.

9. The image capture device of claim 7, wherein the logic is further configured for storing the new image data.

10. The image capture device of claim 7, further comprising a network interface device configured for communication with a communications network and wherein the logic is further configured for providing the new image data to the communications network.

11. The image capture device of claim 7, further comprising an interface configured for direct communication with a computer and wherein the logic is further configured for providing the new image data to the computer.

12. The image capture device of claim 7, wherein the image meta-data comprises at least one searchable keyword.

13. A method for generating an image file containing meta-data, the method comprising the steps of:

identifying a digital representation of an image, the digital representation comprising image data;

applying at least one predefined image analysis algorithm to the digital representation of the image, the at least one predefined image analysis algorithm identifying meta-data corresponding to the image; and

combining the meta-data corresponding to the image with the image data to define new image data.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the meta-data comprises at least one searchable keyword.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of identifying a digital representation of the image involves receiving the image data.

16. A method for searching image files having specific image meta-data, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a search query comprising information related to specific image meta-data;

based on the search query, searching one or more image files comprising a source code segment comprising information corresponding to a digital representation of an image and a source code segment comprising information corresponding to image meta-data associated with the image, the image meta-data identified by applying a predefined image analysis algorithm to the digital representation of the image; and

determining one or more of the image files in which the source code segment comprising information corresponding to image meta-data matches the specific image meta-data in the search query.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of providing the or more image files that match the specific image meta-data in the search query.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the image meta-data and the search query comprises at least one searchable keyword.

19. A method for locating an image file, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a search query comprising information related to specific image meta-data; and

receiving one or more image files comprising a source code segment comprising information corresponding to a digital representation of an image and a source code segment comprising information corresponding to image meta-data associated with the image that matches the specific image meta-data in the search query, the image meta-data identified by applying a predefined image analysis algorithm to the digital representation of the image.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the image meta-data and the search query comprises at least one searchable keyword.