Method and apparatus for organizing digital media based on face recognition

• US 20050105806A1
• Filed: 12/15/2003
• Published: 05/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp. (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Girgensohn, Andreas, Wu, Yuwen, Wilcox, Lynn D., Widjaja, Sugiharto Sudiro, Adcock, John E., Nagaoka, Yasuhiko, Sunzeri, Jeffery Jon
• Granted Patent: US 7,822,233 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/30 in albums, collections or shared content, e.g. social network photos or video

Abstract

In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a method and an apparatus for organizing digital media, particularly digital photos, using face recognition. According to a first aspect of the present invention, a computer-based method for organizing digital photos comprises: extracting objects of interest from a plurality of photographs; cropping said plurality of photographs to generate images of isolated objects of interest; applying a recognition algorithm to determine the similarity of isolated objects of interest with a reference; displaying a plurality of objects arranged as a function of the determined similarity; and receiving user input to associate said objects with a particular classification.

Claims

1. A computer-based method for organizing digital photos, comprising:

extracting objects of interest from a plurality of digital photos;

cropping said plurality of digital photos to generate images of isolated objects of interest;

applying an object recognition algorithm to determine the similarity of isolated objects with a reference model;

displaying a plurality of objects arranged as a function of the determined similarity; and

receiving user input to associate said objects with a particular classification.

2. The invention of claim 1, wherein said steps of applying a recognition algorithm and displaying are repeated as more objects are grouped as belonging to a certain identity.

3. The invention of claim 1, wherein said objects are faces.

4. The invention of claim 3, wherein isolated faces are displayed in a view that includes an area surrounding the face.

5. The invention of claim 1, further comprising annotating image objects based on said classification.

6. The invention of claim 1, further comprising controlling a photo presentation based on said classification.

7. The invention of claim 6, wherein said step of controlling a photo presentation displays a label for an isolated object of interest based on said classification.

8. The invention of claim 1, further comprising controlling a zoom function based on said classification.

9. The invention of claim 6, wherein said photo presentation is a slide presentation.

10. The invention of claim 1, wherein said step of displaying a plurality of objects displays the objects in order of similarity to the reference model.

11. The invention of claim 1, wherein said user input drags an image of an object of interest into a display area associated with said classification.

12. An apparatus for organizing digital photos, comprising:

an object detection and cropping unit for extracting objects of interest from a plurality of digital photos and cropping said plurality of digital photos to generate images of isolated objects of interest;

a recognition unit for applying an object recognition algorithm to determine the similarity of isolated objects with a reference model;

a display output for outputting a display of a plurality of objects arranged as a function of similarity determined by said recognition unit; and

a user input for receiving user input to associate said objects with a particular classification.

13. The invention of claim 12, wherein said recognition unit repeatedly applies said recognition algorithm and said display output updates said display as more objects are grouped as belonging to a certain identity.

14. The invention of claim 12, wherein said objects are faces.

15. The invention of claim 14, wherein said display output displays isolated faces in a view that includes an area surrounding the face.

16. The invention of claim 12, wherein said apparatus annotates image objects based on said classification.

17. The invention of claim 12, wherein said output display outputs a photo presentation based on said classification.

18. The invention of claim 17, wherein said display output displays a label for an isolated object of interest based on said classification.

19. The invention of claim 12, wherein said display output controls a zoom function based on said classification.

20. The invention of claim 17, wherein said photo presentation is a slide presentation.

21. The invention of claim 12, wherein said display output displays the objects in order of similarity to the reference model.

22. The invention of claim 12, wherein said user input drags an image of an object of interest into a display area associated with said classification.