Generation of metadata for acquired images

• US 20040001631A1
• Filed: 06/28/2002
• Published: 01/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Yuan, Po, Ivory, Andrew S., Sadovsky, Vlad, Camara, Franc J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,197,158 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/40 Extraction of image or video features
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A method and image data acquisition service arrangement are disclosed that facilitate standardizing the process of adding metadata to acquired image information downloaded from a connected image capture device to a computer system. An image acquisition service analyzes image information downloaded from the image capture device and renders new metadata values based upon applied analytical algorithms/filters. Thereafter, the image information and new metadata are rendered available to other processes that use the image information and new metadata.

Claims

1. A method, in a computer system, for generating metadata based upon data contained within image information provided by an image capture device, the image information including image data suitable for processing by an image display application program to render a displayed image, the method comprising:

acquiring, by a data transfer interface, image information responsive to a request to acquire image data;

analyzing, by an image data analysis component associated with an image acquisition service, the acquired image information to render at least one new metadata value for the image information; and

integrating the at least one new metadata value with the acquired image information.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to acquire image data, wherein the image data is rendered by an image capture device; and

forwarding the request to acquire image data to the data transfer interface.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the integrating step is carried out prior to providing the image information to a user-mode process that issued the request to acquire image data.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

converting, by a decoder associated with the image acquisition service, image data in a first format to image data in a second format; and

applying, during the analyzing step, at least one image recognition algorithm to the image data in the second format to render the at least one new metadata value.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing step includes the sub-step of:

prompting a user to provide further information based upon a preliminary analysis of the image information to facilitate rendering the at least one new metadata value.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising grouping, during the analyzing step, a set of temporally related images, and wherein the prompting step comprises requesting a descriptive label for the set of temporally related images.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising detecting, during the analyzing step, a face within the image data and wherein the prompting step comprises requesting an identity corresponding to the face.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing step includes non-interactively generating the at least one new metadata value based upon contents of the image information.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the analyzing step comprises detecting whether an image was captured indoors or outdoors, and rendering a corresponding metadata value.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the analyzing step comprises detecting a particular background setting, and rendering an appropriate setting metadata value.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the analyzing step comprises rendering a metadata value corresponding to a type of photo including at least one person from a set of types including:

an individual portrait type and a group type.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the analyzing step comprises rendering an identification for a person based upon a previously stored identity and an image recognition algorithm.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing step comprises rendering the at least one new metadata value based upon header data contained within the acquired image information.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the image data analysis component resides within an operating system of the computer system.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the image data analysis component comprises a set of special-purpose image metadata generators.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising selectively activating ones of the set of special-purpose image metadata generators prior to the analyzing step.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein a subset of the set of special-purpose image metadata generators includes default metadata generators that render a base set of metadata for each acquired image.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one new metadata value is stored as tagged XML data.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the image information and at least one new metadata value are stored within an EXIF file.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the integrating step comprises storing the at least one new metadata value in an image file containing the image data.

21. A computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions for facilitating the generation of metadata based upon data contained within image information provided by an image capture device, the image information including image data suitable for processing by an image display application program to render a displayed image, the computer executable instructions facilitating performing a set of steps comprising:

invoking acquisition, by a data transfer interface, of image information in response to a request to acquire image data;

analyzing, by an image data analysis component associated with an image acquisition service, the acquired image information to render at least one new metadata value for the image information; and

integrating the at least one new metadata value with the acquired image information.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 further comprising computer-executable instructions for facilitating performing the steps of:

receiving a request to acquire image data, wherein the image data is rendered by an image capture device; and

forwarding the request to acquire image data to the data transfer interface.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the executable instructions are arranged such that the integrating step is carried out prior to providing the image information to a user-mode process that issued the request to acquire image data.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 further comprising executable instructions for performing the steps of:

converting, by a decoder associated with the image acquisition service, image data in a first format to image data in a second format; and

applying, during the analyzing step, at least one image recognition algorithm to the image data in the second format to render the at least one new metadata value.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 wherein the analyzing step includes the sub-step of:

prompting a user to provide further information based upon a preliminary analysis of the image information to facilitate rendering the at least one new metadata value.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 25 further comprising executable instructions for performing the step of grouping, during the analyzing step, a set of temporally related images, and wherein the prompting step comprises requesting a descriptive label for the set of temporally related images.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 25 further comprising executable instructions for performing the step of detecting, during the analyzing step, a face within the image data, and wherein the prompting step comprises requesting an identity corresponding to the face.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 wherein the analyzing step includes non-interactively generating the at least one new metadata value based upon contents of the image information.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28 wherein the analyzing step comprises detecting whether an image was captured indoors or outdoors, and rendering a corresponding metadata value.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 28 wherein the analyzing step comprises detecting a particular background setting, and rendering an appropriate setting metadata value.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 28 wherein the analyzing step comprises rendering a metadata value corresponding to a type of photo including at least one person from a set of types including:

an individual portrait type and a group type.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 28 wherein the analyzing step comprises rendering an identification for a person based upon a previously stored identity and an image recognition algorithm.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 wherein the analyzing step comprises rendering the at least one new metadata value based upon header data contained within the acquired image information.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 wherein the image data analysis component resides within an operating system of the computer system.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 wherein the image data analysis component comprises a set of special-purpose image metadata generators.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 35 further comprising executable instructions for performing the step of selectively activating ones of the set of special-purpose image metadata generators prior to the analyzing step.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 35 wherein a subset of the set of special-purpose image metadata generators includes default metadata generators that render a base set of metadata for each acquired image.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 wherein the at least one new metadata value is stored as tagged XML data.

39. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 wherein the image information and at least one new metadata value are stored within an EXIF file.

40. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 wherein the integrating step comprises storing the at least one new metadata value in an image file containing the image data.

41. A method for integrating metadata into image data comprising:

obtaining, by an image acquisition component interposed between a source of captured image data and a user mode process, image data from the source of captured image data;

rendering raw image data from the image data;

applying a metadata generation algorithm to the raw image data to generate new metadata in response to one or more detected characteristics of images corresponding to the raw image data; and

storing the metadata in at least one metadata field associated with the image data.

42. The method of claim 41 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from the user mode process for the image data, and in response performing the obtaining step; and

providing at least one image data file including the image data and the new metadata to the user mode process.

43. A computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions for facilitating integration of metadata into image data, the computer-executable instructions facilitating performing a set of steps comprising:

obtaining, by an image acquisition component interposed between a source of captured image data and a user mode process, image data from the source of captured image data;

rendering raw image data from the image data;

applying a metadata generation algorithm to the raw image data to generate new metadata in response to one or more detected characteristics of images corresponding to the raw image data; and

storing the metadata in at least one metadata field associated with the image data.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 43 further comprising executable instructions for performing the steps of:

receiving a request from the user mode process for the image data, and in response performing the obtaining step; and

providing at least one image data file including the image data and the new metadata to the user mode process.

45. A method for dynamically generating metadata associated with a set of image data at acquisition time, wherein acquisition time is the point in time when a capture device transmits image data to a computing device over a communication interface, the method comprising:

transmitting the set of image data from the capture device to the computing device over the communication interface;

upon receiving the set of image data at the second device, obtaining raw image data from the set of image data;

applying at least one image analysis algorithm to the raw image data to generate new metadata based upon detected characteristics of an image corresponding to the raw image data; and

storing the new metadata in one or more metadata fields within a same file as received image data to which the new metadata corresponds.

46. A computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions for facilitating dynamic generation of metadata associated with a set of image data at acquisition time, wherein acquisition time is the point in time when a capture device transmits image data to a computing device over a communication interface, the computer-executable instructions facilitating performing the steps of:

transmitting the set of image data from the capture device to the computing device over the communication interface;

upon receiving the set of image data at the second device, obtaining raw image data from the set of image data;

applying at least one image analysis algorithm to the raw image data to generate new metadata based upon detected characteristics of an image corresponding to the raw image data; and

storing the new metadata in one or more metadata fields within a same file as received image data to which the new metadata corresponds.

47. An image data acquisition framework, in a computer system, having a capability to generate, in response to a request from a user mode process to acquire image data, new metadata corresponding to acquired image data, the image data acquisition framework comprising:

a computer system data communication hardware interface;

a driver associated with the data communication hardware interface that obtains image information from the data communication hardware interface; and

an image acquisition service including an image analysis component, interposed between the user mode process and the driver, that renders new metadata values from information extracted from the image information obtained by the driver, and wherein the new metadata values are integrated with the image information.

48. The image data acquisition framework of claim 47 wherein the data communication hardware interface is adapted to receive the image information from a capture device communicatively coupled to the computer system.

49. The image data acquisition framework of claim 48 wherein the capture device is a digital camera.

50. The image data acquisition framework of claim 48 wherein the capture device is an image scanner.

51. The image data acquisition framework of claim 48 further comprising a user mode driver, interposed between the image acquisition service and the data communication interface hardware driver, that communicates commands to the data communication interface hardware driver, the commands requesting image data from the capture device.

52. The image data acquisition framework of claim 47 wherein the data communication hardware interface is adapted to receive the image information via a network communicatively coupled to the computer system.

53. The image data acquisition framework of claim 47 wherein the image acquisition service embodies an extensible architecture enabling adding new metadata generators embodied in installable program modules.