Automated discovery, assignment, and submission of image metadata to a network-based photosharing service
First Claim
1. An automated metadata discovery, assignment, and submission system, comprising:
- a photosharing service coupled to a network through a server, the server storing metadata fields; and
at least one client computer capable of communicating with the server over the network, the client computer storing a plurality digital files and an automation application, wherein, when executed the automation application is functional for;
establishing communication with the photosharing service, downloading the metadata fields, automatically analyzing the content of a first file and assigning one or metadata values to the downloaded metadata fields based on the analysis, automatically discovering any pre-existing metadata values associated with the file and using the metadata values to populate corresponding downloaded metadata fields, displaying both the pre-existing and automatically assigned metadata values to the user for viewing and editing, recording the metadata values assigned to the file for use with a next image, and uploading the file and the metadata values to the photosharing service for storage.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An automated metadata discovery, assignment, and submission system is disclosed. The system includes a photosharing service coupled to a network through a server, where the server stores metadata fields. The system also includes at least one client computer capable of communicating with the server over the network, where the client computer stores a plurality digital files and an automation application. When executed, the automation application establishes communication with the photosharing service and downloads the metadata fields. The content of a first file is then automatically analyzed and one or metadata values are assigned to the downloaded metadata fields based on the analysis. In addition, the automation application automatically discovers any pre-existing metadata values associated with the file and uses the metadata values to populate corresponding downloaded metadata fields. Both the pre-existing and automatically assigned metadata values are then displayed to the user for viewing and editing. The metadata values assigned to the file are recoded for use with a next image, and the file and the metadata values are uploaded to the photosharing service for storage.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. An automated metadata discovery, assignment, and submission system, comprising:
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a photosharing service coupled to a network through a server, the server storing metadata fields; and
at least one client computer capable of communicating with the server over the network, the client computer storing a plurality digital files and an automation application, wherein, when executed the automation application is functional for;
establishing communication with the photosharing service, downloading the metadata fields, automatically analyzing the content of a first file and assigning one or metadata values to the downloaded metadata fields based on the analysis, automatically discovering any pre-existing metadata values associated with the file and using the metadata values to populate corresponding downloaded metadata fields, displaying both the pre-existing and automatically assigned metadata values to the user for viewing and editing, recording the metadata values assigned to the file for use with a next image, and uploading the file and the metadata values to the photosharing service for storage. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for automatically discovering metadata for digital image files and for submitting the metadata and image files to a network-based photosharing service by an application running on a client computer, the method comprising steps of:
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(a) downloading to the client computer from the photosharing service a list of metadata fields to be populated for the image files;
(b) selecting a first image file and parsing the image file to extract metadata values therein, and using the metadata values to populate a portion of the downloaded metadata fields;
(c) providing the application with a plug-in interface by which multiple image recognition applications may be added to the application, and using at least one of the image recognition applications to automatically analyze the image file, associate the image file with a particular category based on the analysis, and to populate at least one of the downloaded metadata fields with a value indicating the assigned category;
(d) displaying on the client computer a list of the downloaded metadata fields and the corresponding values that were automatically populated in steps (b) and (c);
(e) allowing a user to fill-in unpopulated metadata fields and to edit the automatically populated metadata fields;
(f) recording the metadata values assigned to image file;
(g) retrieving a next image file and using the values assigned to the previous image file to populate a portion of the metadata fields for the current image;
(h) repeating steps (b)-(g) or each image file to be uploaded to the photosharing service; and
(i) uploading the image files and corresponding metadata to the photosharing service. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A computer-readable medium containing program instructions for automatically discovering metadata for digital image files and for submitting the metadata and image files to a network-based photosharing service by an application running on a client computer, the program instructions for:
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(a) downloading to the client computer from the photosharing service a list of metadata fields to be populated for the image files;
(b) selecting a first image file and parsing the image file to extract metadata values therein, and using the metadata values to populate a portion of the downloaded metadata fields;
(c) providing the application with a plug-in interface by which multiple image recognition applications may be added to the application, and using at least one of the image recognition applications to automatically analyze the image file, associate the image file with a particular category based on the analysis, and to populate at least one of the downloaded metadata fields with a value indicating the assigned category;
(d) displaying on the client computer a list of the downloaded metadata fields and the corresponding values that were automatically populated in instructions (b) and (c);
(e) allowing a user to fill-in unpopulated metadata fields and to edit the automatically populated metadata fields;
(f) recording the metadata values assigned to image file;
(g) retrieving a next image file and using the values assigned to the previous image file to populate a portion of the metadata fields for the current image;
(h) repeating instructions (b)-(g) or each image file to be uploaded to the photosharing service; and
(i) uploading the image files and corresponding metadata to the photosharing service. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification