System and method for applying inference information to digital camera metadata to identify digital picture content

• US 20050104976A1
• Filed: 11/17/2003
• Published: 05/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Currans, Kevin
• Application Number:
  US10/715,265
• Publication Number:
  US 20050104976A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/231.500
• 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: H04N 1/00204 with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server programmed control between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N1/32561
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00244 with a server, e.g. an internet server fax-servers or the like for store and forward H04N1/324
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00323 with a measuring, monitoring or signaling apparatus, e.g. for transmitting measured information to a central location
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32101 Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0084 Digital still camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3215 of a time or duration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3253 Position information, e.g. geographical position at time of capture, GPS data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3277 The additional information being stored in the same storage device as the image data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 between a recording apparatus and a television camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 between a recording apparatus and a television receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/907 using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories H04N5/91 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a system and method for correlating an image with information associated with the image comprising identifying image metadata for the image, wherein the image metadata includes information associated with conditions at the time of image capture, searching one or more information sources using parameters in the image metadata to collect inference information from the information sources, and displaying the inference information to a user.

Claims

1. A method of correlating an image with information associated with the image comprising:

identifying image metadata for the image, wherein the image metadata includes information associated with conditions at the time of image capture; and

searching one or more information sources using parameters in the image metadata to collect inference information from the information sources.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving one or more inputs from the user identifying selected inference information; and

adding the selected inference information to an image file for the image.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving one or more inputs from the user identifying selected inference information; and

adding the selected inference information to an inference metadata file linked to the image.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the image metadata includes parameters selected from the group consisting of:

time of image capture;

date of image capture;

location of image capture;

direction of image capture device during image capture; and

angle of image capture device during image capture.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the image metadata includes a latitude and longitude of the image capture device.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the image metadata includes location information generated by tracking multiple earth-orbiting satellites.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

printing the image, the image metadata, and selected inference information.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the inference information is selected from the group consisting of:

landmarks located near the image;

weather at the time of image capture;

information related to the location where the image was captured; and

objects that are within the field of view of the image capture device.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

searching a first database using the image metadata to identify the inference information; and

searching a second database using the inference information to identify additional inference information.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said image metadata is associated with a series of images taken over a period of time.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein said image metadata is associated with a series of images taken while the location of the image capture device was changing.

12. A system for correlating an image with inference information comprising:

means for receiving an image file including image data and image metadata; and

means for searching an information source using the image metadata to identify image inference information.

13. The system of claim 12

means for displaying the image inference information to a user;

means for receiving one or more inputs from the user identifying selected inference information; and

means for adding the selected inference information to an image file for the image.

14. The system of claim 12

means for displaying the image inference information to a user;

means for receiving one or more inputs from the user identifying selected inference information; and

means for adding the selected inference information to an inference metadata file linked to the image.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the image metadata includes parameters selected from the group consisting of:

time of image capture;

date of image capture;

location of image capture;

direction of image capture device during image capture; and

angle of image capture device during image capture.

16. The system of claim 12 wherein the conditions at the time of image capture include a latitude and longitude of the image capture device.

17. The system of claim 12 wherein the conditions at the time of image capture include location information generated by tracking multiple earth-orbiting satellites.

18. The system of claim 12 further comprising:

means for printing the image, the image metadata, and selected inference information.

19. The system of claim 12 wherein the inference information is selected from the group consisting of:

landmarks located near the image;

weather at the time of image capture;

information related to the location where the image was captured; and

objects that are within the field of view of the image capture device.

20. The system of claim 12 further comprising:

means for searching a first database using the image metadata to identify the inference information; and

means for searching a second database using the inference information to identify additional inference information.

21. The system of claim 12 wherein said image metadata is associated with a series of images taken over a period of time.

22. The system of claim 12 wherein said image metadata is associated with a series of images taken while the location of the image capture device was changing.

23. A storage device for storing image file information comprising:

memory fields for storing image data representing pixels in a captured image;

memory fields for storing image metadata representing data associated with conditions at the time that the image was captured; and

memory fields for storing inference metadata representing data that is generated by searching information databases using at least a portion of the image metadata.

24. The storage device of claim 23 further comprising:

memory fields for storing a confidence factor relating to matched inference data and an identify of a person supervising the match.